ASSESSMENTS

In Ivory Coast, Persistent Strife and Security Threats

Apr 15, 2013 | 10:15 GMT

An Ivorian soldier during an exercise with French troops north of Abidjan on April 6

ISSOUF SANOGO/AFP/Getty Images

Summary

Two years after he took power in Ivory Coast, Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara's efforts to pacify the country continue to be undermined by persistent unrest — some of it perpetrated by elements of the president's support base. Several recent attacks have been attributed to supporters of former President Laurent Gbagbo, who was extradited to the International Criminal Court after contested elections in 2010, and Gbagbo's Ivorian Popular Front party is boycotting upcoming regional and municipal elections. But on April 12, protesters wearing army uniforms — reportedly former members of a militia that fought to remove Gbagbo in 2011 — disrupted traffic on the country's main north-south highway in the city of Bouake to demand payment for military service and integration into the government. The incidents illustrate the breadth of discontent and the diversity of security risks in the fractured country. The president faces no immediate threat to his hold on power, but the lack of reconciliation in Ivory Coast — especially its southern regions — portends continued instability.

Recent incidents illustrate the diversity of discontent and security risks in the fractured country....

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