Statistics

National name: R�publique de la C�te d'lvoire

President: Gen. Robert Guei (1999)

Prime Minister: Seydou Elimane Diarra (2000)

Area: 124,502 sq mi (322,460 sq km)

Population (2001 est.): 16,393,221 (average annual rate of natural increase: 2.4%); birth rate: 40.4/1000; infant mortality rate: 93.7/1000; density per sq mi: 132

Capital (1988): Yamoussoukro (official); Abidjan (administrative) (since March 1983), 106,786

Largest city (est. 1988): Abidjan, 2,797,000

Monetary unit: Franc CFA

Languages: French (official) and African languages (Diaula esp.)

Ethnicity/race: Baoule 23%, Bete 18%, Senoufou 15%, Malinke 11%, Agni, foreign Africans (mostly Burkinabe and Malians, about 3 million)

Religions: indigenous 60%, Islam 23%, Christian 17%

Literacy rate: 54% (1990)

Economic summary:GDP/PPP (1999 est.): $25.7 billion; per capita $1,600. Real growth rate: 5%. Inflation: 2.5%. Unemployment: n.a. Arable land: 8%. Agriculture: coffee, cocoa beans, bananas, palm kernels, corn, rice, manioc (tapioca), sweet potatoes, sugar, cotton, rubber; timber. Labor force: n.a. Industries: foodstuffs, beverages; wood products, oil refining, automobile assembly, textiles, fertilizer, construction materials, electricity. Natural resources: petroleum, diamonds, manganese, iron ore, cobalt, bauxite, copper, hydropower. Exports: $3.9 billion (f.o.b., 1999 est.): cocoa 37%, coffee, tropical woods, petroleum, cotton, bananas, pineapples, palm oil, cotton, fish (1998). Imports: $2.6 billion (f.o.b., 1999 est.): food, consumer goods; capital goods, fuel, transport equipment. Major trading partners: France, Netherlands, U.S., Italy, Germany.

Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 182,000 (1998); mobile cellular: more than 60,000 (December 1998). Radio broadcast stations: AM 2, FM 8, shortwave 3 (1998). Radios: 2.26 million (1997). Television broadcast stations: 14 (1999). Televisions: 900,000 (1997). Internet Service Providers (ISPs): n.a.

Transportation: Railways: total: 660 km (1995 est.). Highways: total: 50,400 km; paved: 4,889 km; unpaved: 45,511 km (1996 est.). Waterways: 980 km navigable rivers, canals, and numerous coastal lagoons. Ports and harbors: Abidjan, Aboisso, Dabou, San-Pedro. Airports: 36 (1999 est.).

Geography

C�te d'Ivoire (also known as the Ivory Coast), in western Africa on the Gulf of Guinea is a little larger than New Mexico. Its neighbors are Liberia, Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Ghana. The country consists of a coastal strip in the south, dense forests in the interior, and savannas in the north.

Presidential/parliamentary democracy until Dec. 1999, when a coup installed a military dictatorship.

C�te d'Ivoire was originally made up of numerous isolated settlements; today it represents more than sixty distinct tribes, including the Beti, Senufo, Baule, Anyi, Malinke, Dan, and Lobi. C�te d'Ivoire attracted both French and Portuguese merchants in the 15th century who were in search of ivory and slaves. French traders set up establishments early in the 19th century, and in 1842, the French obtained territorial concessions from local tribes, gradually extending their influence along the coast and inland. The area was organized as a territory in 1893, became an autonomous republic in the French Union after World War II, and achieved independence on Aug. 7, 1960. C�te d'Ivoire formed a customs union in 1959 with Dahomey (Benin), Niger, and Burkina Faso. The nation's economy is one of the most developed in sub-Saharan Africa. It is the world's largest exporter of cocoa and one of the largest exporters of coffee.

From independence until his death in 1993, Felix Houphou�t-Boigny served as president. Massive protests by students, farmers, and professionals forced the president to legalize opposition parties and hold the first contested presidential election in Oct. 1990, which Houphou�t-Boigny won with 81% of the vote. Beginning in Sept. 1998, thousands of demonstrators protested a constitutional revision that granted President Henri Konan B�di� greatly enhanced powers. B�di� has also promoted the concept of ivoirit�, which, roughly translated, means �pure Ivoirian pride.� He has done so to disqualify his chief political rival, Alassane D. Ouattara, from elections�Ouattara was born in Burkina Faso, not C�te d'Ivoire, and his support comes largely from Muslims in the north. Although its defenders describe ivoirit� as a term of positive national pride, it has led to a dangerous xenophobia, with numerous ethnic Malians and Burkinans being driven out of the country in 1999.

President B�di� was overthrown in the country's first military coup in Dec. 1999, and General Robert Guei assumed control of the country. As a result, the majority of foreign aid to the country has ceased. Guei ran in Sept. elections, despite international pressure to withdraw his candidacy.

In what were seen as the first steps toward reasserting democracy, voters overwhelmingly approved a draft constitution in July 2000. However, the document requires both parents of a potential presidential candidate to have been Ivorian, thereby excluding the nearly 40% of the population and increasing the possibility of ethnic tension. Guei, who had promised to stay in power only to �sweep the house clean,� instead decided to run for president in October 2000 elections.

Presidential elections were held in Oct. 2000, between the country�s military ruler, Gen. Robert Guei, and a civilian opposition candidate, Laurent Gbagbo. Each declared victory in an election most believed to have been rife with fraud. Popular outcry against Guei soon turned violent, forcing him to leave the country, and Gbagbo assumed the presidency. Many observers questioned his mandate, however, since the opposition leader Alassane Ouattara had been excluded from the election on the specious grounds that he was not a pure-blooded Ivoirian. Parliamentary elections in March 2001 were considered an important indication of genuine political support because each of the three main political parties�those affiliated with Gbagbo, Ouattara, and Guei�were permitted to participate. Ouattara's party in fact trounced Gbagbo's party, weakening the president's authority.

See Also: Africa-Info: Ivory Coast http://www.africa-info.com/pages/2ci/index.html

(Source: www.infoplease.com )

(this website was designed using Microsoft Notepad, and is best viewed using a computer of some kind.) - Alex Martindale, for Kerry McGregor, 7/11/2001