Climate Economy History
Ghana / Burkina Faso / Cote d'Ivoire.

The Republic of the Ivory Coast is located on the South Coast of the Western Bulge of Africa and is bordered in its four sides; Mali and Burkina Faso at the North, Ghana at the East, Gulf of Guinea of the Atlantic Ocean at the South and Liberia and Guinea at the West.

The Ivory Coast is mainly a vast plateau gently slanting towards the Atlantic except for the Guinea Highlands that continue into the northwest (from Man to Odienne) having peaks 4000 – 5000 ft in height. The four main rivers, namely: Cavally (situated on the Liberian frontier). Sassandra, Bandama and Comoe – run through the plateau, parallel from north to the south. These rivers are not very useful for transportation since the dry season makes the rivers very slow, there are abundant falls and rapids in between and, in the rainy season, there are chances of heavy rains.


Climate

Three main climatic regions are prevalent here – the Coast, the Forest and the Savannah.

The coastal region sees the greatest rainfall of 80-120 inches and an average temperature of 73°F-80°F (23°C to 26.6°C). There is a log spell of dry season from the months December through to April following which heavy rains occur from the middle of May to the middle of July. Mid July to October is a short dry season and there are little rains in October and November.

The central forest region sees a heavy rainfall of 53-100 inches, continuous ongoing humidity with the seasons less differentiated. The earlier, shorter dry season starts from November through to the middle of March, after which - mid-March through to mid-May -is a short wet season. Another short dry season happens from mid May to mid-July after which the heavy rains fall from mid-July to mid-November. The northern Savannah has temperatures as high as 90°F-94°F (32°C -24.4°C) and as low as 14°C (57°F).

The Savannah from June to October has a wet season with the dry season lasting for 6-7 months.

Economy

Cote d'Ivoire is one among the largest producers and exporters of coffee, cocoa beans, and palm oil in the world. As a result, the economy is highly sensitive to fluctuations in international prices for these products as well as to weather conditions.

Even though there have been government attempts to diversify the economy, it is still highly dependent on agriculture that employs approx. 68% of the population. After years of lagging performance, the Ivoirian economy came back in 1994, following the 50% devaluation of the CFA franc and improving prices for cocoa and coffee, growth in nontraditional primary exports such as pineapples and rubber, limited trade and banking liberalization, offshore oil and gas discoveries, and generous external financing and debt rescheduling by multilateral lenders and France.

Government adherence to donor-mandated reforms led to an increase in growth of 5% every year between 1996-99. Growth has decreased in 2000 and 2001 due to difficulty in meeting the conditions of international donors, continued low prices of key exports, and post-coup instability. Political instability continues to hinder growth..

History
Cote D’Ivoire, in the Medieval Times was central to many of the main African trade routes joining the empires of Ghana and Mali and dominated originally by the Dioula people. With the expansion of trade, the Malinke merchants brought with Islam. The 16th century saw the Mali empire fall and the Ashanti wars were declared in the 17th century. This war resulted in many people moving into the Central and Northern Cote d’Ivoire forest regions and saw the start of new kingdoms like Anvi and Baule. Down south, in the Savannah country, the Kong held sway, markedly through Sekou Ouattara’s dynasty, which started in the 18th century and which was ultimately overpowered by the Muslim Leader Samory Toure in 1897. 

Although European traders were present from the 15th century, only by the 19th century did the French take over. The French slowly moved to form alliances with local ruling groups. Within just a year of Samory Toure’s success over Kong, the French took over. The territory was then part of French West Africa and in August 1960 the country finally obtained its independence. Félix Houphouët-Boigny, an unusually effective politician led the country for 30 years, along with his party - Parti Démocratique de la Côte d’Ivoire (PDCI). He maintained very close links with the West, mainly with France, but additionally also with apartheid South Africa.

When Houphouët-Boigny died in December 1993, the former speaker of the National Assembly, Henri Konan Bédié, replaced him. With their victory in the presidential poll of December 1995 as well as at the subsequent month’s parliamentary elections, it seemed success all the way. However, things took a turn with serious industrial unrest and a decidedly unpopular military intervention in the Liberian Civil War. In 1999, in the run-up to the presidential elections arranged for early 2000, the key opposition candidate Alassane Ouattara of the Rassemblement des Republicains (RDR) – which had majority support from Muslims in the North of the country) was denied a stand on technical grounds.

General Robert Guei’s military coup of December 1999 came as a surprise to many. Guei, who was an ex-minister and an Ouatarra ally, went on to stop French intervention that considered Cote d’Ivoire as a chief ally in the region. The fresh military rule started a broadly based government with leading army figures and the key political parties. International reaction was muted. The main participants in the presidential elections of October 2000 were Guei and Laurent Gbagbo who represented the Front Populaire Ivoirien (FPI) with its major constituency among the Christians of the South. Gdagbo won the elections with Guei driven into exile. Ouattara was again prevented from standing as an RDR candidate, which led to serious unrest among the Muslims. The new Government successfully put down a coup in January 2001.In the next 12 months, however, the government was controlled the country until the Rebel leader Guillaume Soros led new forces South. He was held at Boake, where a buffer zone, called the Confidence Zone was established and patrolled by the UN and French Licornes. The country was effectively split in two with Soros controlling the North and President Gbagbo the South.

For a considerable time the two leaders were unable to overcome their differences. In March 2007 a peace deal was signed in Ouagadougou and as part of that deal Guillaume Soros was appointed Prime Minister and a new Government was formed. The war was declared over, the Confidence zone barricades were removed and the country became one again.
During a Television address on the eve of the Country’s independence day holiday on 14th August 2007; President Laurent Gbagbo said, “Ivory Coast can organize elections by the end of December 2007.” Following the Ouagadougou peace deal, there has been progress in the unification of the country and a new optimism has emerged in the commercial capital Abidjan. Investors are beginning to return. Lorry loads of sand and cement mixers can be seen around the Capital and are early indicators of increased confidence.

President Laurent Gbagbo and Prime Minister Guillaume Soros are doing everything possible to make elections happen quickly