The Foreign Service Journal, March 2011

M A R C H 2 0 1 1 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 11 Crisis in Côte d’Ivoire The standoff in Abidjan between long-time ruler Laurent Gbagbo and the internationally supported victor of the Nov. 28 runoff election, Alassane Ouattara, has yet to be resolved as we go to press in mid-February. As the sit- uation in Côte d’Ivoire deteriorates, the international community is striving to find a solution that both reflects the outcome of the election and halts the country’s downward spiral. According to the United Nations, as of late January more than 200 people had been killed in post-election vio- lence, and the 22,000 refugees who have fled thus far were already chal- lenging aid organizations in Liberia. The African Union, the Economic Community of West African States, the United Nations, the European Union and the United States have all endorsed Mr. Ouattara’s presidency, yet Presi- dent Gbagbo refuses to yield power. As a result, the Obama administra- tion has imposed limited sanctions against the president and his associ- ates, including a travel ban and asset freeze. In addition, the World Bank has suspended financing and the Cen- tral Bank of West Africa has officially cut off Gbagbo. Following the election, three ECOWAS heads of state accompanied former South African President Thabo Mbeki, the African Union’s mediator, to Côte d’Ivoire to attempt to forge a diplomatic solution. They were un- successful, but Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga traveled to Abidjan as the A.U.’s chief mediator on Jan. 16 to con- tinue negotiations. Meanwhile, there are limited re- sources with which to cope with the cri- sis. The U.N. presence in Côte d’Ivoire consists of 10,000 troops, plus 900 French soldiers who are pledged to back the organization. Lawrence Woocher of the U.S. Institute of Peace writes in the January 2011 edition of On the Issues: Genocide and Prevention that “the situation in Côte d’Ivoiremer- its close monitoring for signs that the political conflict could metastasize into large-scale targeted violence against civilian populations” ( www.usip.org ) . In a Dec. 3 post titled “Côte d’ Ivoire on the Brink,” Mohamed Vall of Al-Jazeera recounts the ominous par- allels that exist between the present cli- mate in the country and the climate that led to civil war in 2002 ( http:// blogs.aljazeera.net ) . During a Jan. 14 teleconference with the Center for Strategic and Inter- national Studies from the Abidjan hotel in which Gbagbo’s forces have block- aded him, Mr. Ouattara supported the use of force to removeMr. Gbagbo, and declared that “if ECOWAS shows clearly its will to intervene, Mr. Gbagbo will stop.” Ouattara also emphasized the need to fully implement the sanc- tions of the regional central bank and stated that he would like Washington C YBERNOTES I think I will be answering concerns about WikiLeaks for the rest of my life, not just the rest of my tenure as Secretary of State. I’ve told my team that I want to get one of those really sharp-looking jackets that rock-and- roll groups have on tours. And I could have a big picture of the world, and it could say “The Apology Tour,” because I have been very, very much involved in reaching out to leaders and others who have concerns about either the general message of our confidential communications being exposed in this way or specific questions about their country or themselves. That aspect of it has receded a lot. I’ve done an enormous amount of work, as have other members of our government, but it still is in the atmosphere. So I think it is always better to affirmatively raise it, and set forth the concerns that we know our friends have. — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, speaking to reporters en route to Dubai on Jan. 9; www.state.gov .