Côte d’Ivoire
August 24, 2023
Côte d’Ivoire
Côte d’Ivoire is a leading economy in West Africa and an
81), Gbagbo (78), and Bédié (died in 2023, at 89) exit the
increasingly important U.S. security partner amid Islamist
scene. The next presidential election is slated for 2025.
insurgencies, military takeovers, and growing Russian
activity in the region. President Alassane Ouattara, in office
Figure 1. Côte d’Ivoire at a Glance
since 2011, has overseen an influx of foreign investment
and strong economic growth. In 2020, however, Ouattara’s
decision to seek a third term despite term limits sparked
clashes and recalled a conflict that divided the country from
2002-2011. Côte d’Ivoire also has faced a mounting threat
of extremist spillover from Burkina Faso and Mali (see Fig.
1). Militants have staged nearly two dozen attacks in Côte
d’Ivoire’s north since 2020. The Biden Administration has
named Côte d’Ivoire as a partner under the Global Fragility
Act of 2019 (Title V, Div. J, P.L. 116-94), as part of the
Coastal West Africa sub-region. Funding and oversight of
GFA engagement are emergent issues for Congress.
Politics
Côte d’Ivoire experienced decades of stability and relative
Source: CRS graphic. Information from CIA World Factbook except
prosperity after independence from France in 1960. In the
figures on religious demography, which are drawn from Ivoirian
1990s, tensions mounted over identity and socioeconomic
Ministry of Planning and Development, General Census 2021.
power, drawing on predominately Christian southerners’
resentment at perceived displacement by mainly Muslim
Foreign Affairs. Côte d’Ivoire maintains close ties with
northerners and foreign migrants, and northerners’ anger at
France, which has faced diplomatic strains and growing
alleged marginalization by southerners and the state.
anti-French sentiment in the neighboring Sahel region. The
Conflict broke out in 2002, and a rebel coalition took
two countries have longstanding trade and investment ties,
control of the north. U.N. peacekeepers and French troops
and hundreds of French soldiers are deployed to Côte
deployed to monitor a ceasefire, and a regionally-brokered
d’Ivoire to support regional operations. In 2021, Ivoirian
peace accord followed in 2007. In 2010 elections, Ouattara,
and French officials inaugurated a counterterrorism training
a northerner and ex-prime minister, defeated incumbent
facility, the International Academy for the Fight Against
President Laurent Gbagbo, a proponent of anti-northern
Terrorism (AILCT), near Abidjan, the commercial capital.
rhetoric. The United States recognized the result. Gbagbo
refused to concede, and pro-Ouattara rebels moved
China is among Côte d’Ivoire’s top trading partners, and
southward, leading to a brief war that killed some 3,000
has financed power, transportation, and other infrastructure
people. In early 2011, rebel forces, backed by French and
projects in the country. Ties with Russia are more limited.
U.N. troops, arrested Gbagbo, and Ouattara took office.
Uncommon among African countries, Côte d’Ivoire voted
Gbagbo was transferred to the International Criminal Court
with the United States on all six U.N. General Assembly
on charges related to the war; he was acquitted in 2019.
resolutions related to the Russia-Ukraine war. Surveys have
indicated high approval ratings of Russia among Ivoirians
Ouattara’s administration brought greater stability, buoyed
however, and Russian-backed social media propaganda
by robust economic growth, but his decision to seek a third
operations reportedly have targeted Côte d’Ivoire.
term in 2020 triggered unrest. With top opposition figures
boycotting or barred from the race, Ouattara won easily.
Security Conditions
Political clashes killed a reported 85 people. Ouattara has
Côte d’Ivoire recorded its first Islamist attack in 2016,
since moved to reduce tensions. A political dialogue paved
when Al Qaeda-affiliated militants killed 19 in a siege on a
the way for peaceful National Assembly elections in 2021,
resort near Abidjan. It experienced its next attack in 2020,
in which Ouattara’s party took 58% of seats. Ouattara later
when assailants raided a military post along the
allowed Gbagbo to return to Côte d’Ivoire after his ICC
northeastern border with Burkina Faso, killing 14 security
acquittal. In 2022, he met Gbagbo and Henri Konan Bédié,
personnel. Ivoirian authorities linked the 2020 attack to the
another former president, turned leader of the largest
Group for Supporting Islam and Muslims (JNIM), an Al
opposition party, in a reconciliation effort. Côte d’Ivoire’s
Qaeda affiliate active in Mali and Burkina Faso. Côte
outlook is likely to hinge, in part, on how parties manage a
d’Ivoire recorded around 20 attacks in 2020-2021, most on
transfer of authority to the next generation as Ouattara (age
military posts and personnel near the Burkina Faso border.
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Côte d’Ivoire
Since 2020, the government has expanded its military
Child Labor in the Cocoa Industry
deployment in the north and deepened security cooperation
Child labor is widespread in the Ivoirian and Ghanaian
with its neighbors. Military coups in Mali and Burkina Faso
cocoa sectors, primarily involving employment of children
have complicated such collaboration. Ties with Mali soured
on family-owned farms, often under hazardous conditions.
in 2022 after the Malian junta imprisoned nearly 50 Ivoirian
Forced child labor, or child slavery, also occurs, but is
peacekeepers for several months amid a fallout between the
reportedly more limited. Under the Harkin-Engel Protocol
junta and U.N. peacekeeping mission in Mali, which is due
(named after the two Members of Congress), a voluntary
to withdraw by January 2024. Military indiscipline also has
public-private agreement signed in 2001, major chocolate
been a problem. After the 2010-2011 crisis, thousands of
and cocoa companies pledged efforts to end the “worst
rebels were integrated into the armed forces; analysts
forms” of child labor, including hazardous and forced labor,
contend that some ex-rebel leaders retain influence over
in their supply chains. Parties repeatedly missed targets, and
their former militants. In 2017, soldiers staged a series of
in 2020, when the last deadline lapsed, researchers assessed
mutinies demanding better pay. The troops returned to the
that 1.56 million children were working in the countries’
barracks after reaching an agreement with the government.
cocoa sectors, nearly all exposed to hazardous work. The
U.S. Department of Labor administers aid to reduce child
As part of its counterinsurgency strategy, the government
labor and improve child welfare in cocoa-growing areas.
also has increased social and infrastructural investment in
the north, which is generally less developed than the south.
U.S. Relations and Assistance
Attacks have slowed since 2021, but analysts warn that
U.S. engagement with Côte d’Ivoire has expanded as U.S.
northern Côte d’Ivoire remains at risk of violence. Local
concern grows over Islamist insurgencies, military coups,
fears of a spillover of conflict from the Sahel have
and Russian engagement in West Africa. The country
reportedly eroded social cohesion, including by stoking
hosted Flintlock, U.S. Africa Command’s premier special
suspicion and hostility toward the Fulani, a predominately
operations exercise, in 2022, and co-hosted Flintlock with
Muslim group present in many West African countries that
Ghana in 2023. Section 5599A of the James M. Inhofe
extremist groups in the Sahel have targeted for recruitment.
FY2023 National Defense Authorization Act (P.L. 117-
Considered by many Ivoirians to be foreigners regardless of
263) required the Secretary of State to conduct a feasibility
(at times) generational residency in the country, Fulani
study on possible U.S. support for the AILCT. In 2018, the
individuals face social and legal barriers to citizenship and
United States and Côte d’Ivoire signed a memorandum of
employment. Analysts warn that extremists could leverage
understanding on expanding commercial relations; cocoa is
grievances over such conditions to gain support.
by far the largest U.S. import from the country.
The Economy
U.S. Assistance. U.S. bilateral aid for Côte d’Ivoire in
Côte d’Ivoire’s economy is the third largest in West Africa,
FY2022 totaled $149 million, of which 97% was for health
behind Nigeria and on par with neighboring Ghana. The
programs. HIV/AIDS assistance under the U.S. President’s
agriculture sector accounts for roughly one-fifth of annual
Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief comprised the largest
gross domestic product and employs nearly half the labor
share, at $97 million. Other health aid seeks to combat
force, per the World Bank. Côte d’Ivoire is the world’s top
malaria, support maternal and child health, and build health
cocoa exporter, producing around 40% of global supply.
system capacity. Governance assistance ($4 million) and
Other commodity exports include cashews, bananas, palm
International Military Education and Training ($344,000)
oil, rubber, and cotton; the country also produces gold and
aid made up the balance. The Administration has requested
manganese, used in iron and steel. Abidjan is a financial
$146 million for Côte d’Ivoire for FY2024. The country has
hub in West Africa, and hosts the West African Economic
received other U.S. aid via global and regional programs,
and Monetary Union regional stock exchange along with
including State Department-managed security assistance to
the African Development Bank (of which the United States
help Ivoirian security forces combat maritime insecurity,
is a top shareholder). Offshore oil and natural gas finds in
counter terrorism, and take part in peacekeeping operations.
2021-2022 have raised interest in Côte d’Ivoire’s energy
sector. Eni, an Italian firm, has a 90% stake in the blocks
Global Fragility Act (GFA). In 2022, the Administration
containing the country’s largest field, Baleine, holding an
designated Côte d’Ivoire as a partner country under the
estimated 2.5 billion barrels of oil and 3.3 trillion cubic feet
GFA, as part of a coastal West Africa regional grouping
of gas. Eni expects Baleine to start production in 2023.
that also includes Benin, Ghana, Guinea, and Togo. The
Administration’s strategy for engagement in coastal West
Migrants, particularly from Burkina Faso, have historically
Africa identifies building social cohesion, improving state
played an important role in the economy. According to a
responsiveness and accountability, and improving the
2021 population census, non-Ivoirians comprise 22% of the
effectiveness of state security forces as top objectives.
population, although the State Department reports that
official estimates of the foreign population include second-
Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC). The MCC is
and third-generation residents. Migrant labor, concentrated
implementing a six-year, $537 million Compact aimed at
in the agriculture and service sectors, has supported robust
improving road infrastructure in Abidjan and expanding job
economic growth, but disputes between local and “foreign”
training. The Compact came into force in 2019. The MCC
populations over land and economic opportunity remain a
also has selected Côte d’Ivoire to develop a concurrent
source of discrimination and intermittent violence.
multi-country Compact. In its FY2024 budget justification,
the MCC stated that it is “exploring investment in power
sector reform, infrastructure, and capacity building in Côte
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Côte d’Ivoire
d’Ivoire to solidify its role as an anchor power exporter,”
Tomás F. Husted, Analyst in African Affairs
and plans to seek Board approval in March 2024.
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