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Story Publication logo June 29, 2012

Ivory Coast: Waiting for Gbagbo

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Côte d'ivoire
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Ivory Coast: Cocoa, Justice, and the Road to Reconciliation

In Ivory Coast—the world’s top cocoa producer—cocoa farmers bore the brunt of a civil war that...

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Above, a manual laborer rests amidst sacks of cocoa at Saf Cacao, the largest nationally owned cocoa exporter in Ivory Coast, in San Pedro on March 5, 2012. Austin Merrill, interviewing cocoa workers for FP, says he was told, 'They should leave Gbagbo in peace.' Image by Peter DiCampo. Ivory Coast, 2012.
Ivory Coast is the world's top producer of cocoa, and it accounts for a large sector of the country's economy. But harvesting the crop requires long hours and hard labor, and the price can be volatile. This summer, a commodity analyst at Citigroup Inc. explained, 'The heavy rains are making people nervous about supplies.' Above, cocoa pods grow on farmland near Pinhou, Ivory Coast on March 7, 2012. Image by Peter DiCampo. Ivory Coast, 2012.
Cocoa farmland was also behind much of the conflict that Gbagbo helped stoke. As cocoa became a profitable industry in the 1970s, foreigners attracted to cocoa money moved to the Ivory Coast, bought land, and started business. Beginning in 2000, Gbagbo encouraged Ivorians to reclaim their land, sparking discrimination and violent attacks against immigrants, many of whom had lived in the country for decades. The violence escalated when Gbagbo refused to cede power to the popularly elected Alassane Ouattara, leading the country to the brink of civil war. Above, farmland burns at the beginning of a new planting season outside of San Pedro on March 3, 2012. Image by Peter DiCampo. Ivory Coast, 2012.
A local villager near Niambli told Merrill about an attack in his hometown. 'It seemed like there were thousands of them -- Gbagbo's militia, all dressed in black. They didn't have machetes or the kinds of guns you normally see with farmers in this area. They had Kalashnikovs. And by the end of the day the whole village was flattened. There wasn't a single house left.' Above, a man sees his destroyed home for the first time since fleeing a year earlier in a village near Blolequin, Ivory Coast on March 11, 2012. He had been living in a refugee camp in Liberia. Image by Peter DiCampo. Ivory Coast, 2012.
A group of Dozo, or traditional hunters, pose for a photograph at their encampment in Duekoué on March 12, 2012. The role of the Dozo in last year's post-election violence is unclear; while many maintain that they are the protectors of the region, Gbagbo supporters insist that the Dozo joined with the advancing opposition army and participated in heavy fighting and even massacres. Image by Peter DiCampo. Ivory Coast, 2012.
Human Rights Watch has produced a report about some of the atrocities that took place in the post-election violence, including the gang-rape of hundreds of women. Above, a woman who was the victim of sexual violence in Duekoue on March 9, 2012. Image by Peter DiCampo. Ivory Coast, 2012.
Refugees who had been living in Liberia are returned home to their villages in a large U.N. refugee repatriation to the western region of the Ivory Coast on March 11, 2012. Having fled last year, this is the first time in over a year that they were able to return home. Image by Peter DiCampo. Ivory Coast, 2012.
More than 150,000 people fled their homes and ended up in Liberian refugee camps, or moved in with acquiantances made during the Liberian civil war. Above, refugees who had been living in Liberia return to their village and reunite with family members for the first time in Bledi Dieya on March 11, 2012. Image by Peter DiCampo. Ivory Coast, 2012.
A woman begins rebuilding her destroyed house in Bledi Dieya on the first day she returned home after a year living as a refugee in Liberia, March 11, 2012. Image by Peter DiCampo. Ivory Coast, 2012.
Community leaders speak at a reconciliation ceremony in the Carrefour neighborhood of Duekoué on March 9, 2012. Duekoué was the site of heavy fighting and a massacre that killed hundreds, yet the reconciliation event was attended predominantly by community leaders and U.N. and foreign aid workers, with little participation from local people. Image by Peter DiCampo. Ivory Coast, 2012.
Jean Luc Gnompoa and Olivier Tehe, local villagers, in Duekoue on March 9, 2012. The two were split up during an attack on their village. Jean Luc escaped, while Olivier ran straight into a massacre. He survived by running into a crowd of women and pretending to be one of them so that soldiers overlooked him. The two are currently living in a refugee camp. Image by Peter DiCampo. Ivory Coast, 2012.
The rubble of former homes in Niambli, Ivory Coast on March 13, 2012. Niambli, a village divided between local and foreign ethnic groups, was the site of heavy fighting between Gbagbo and Ouattara supporters. Image by Peter DiCampo. Ivory Coast, 2012.
While people struggle to return home and to their normal lives, cocoa production proceeds apace. Above, a mural on the wall at Choco Ivoire, an Ivorian company that processes cocoa butter, in San Pedro on March 5, 2012. Image by Peter DiCampo. Ivory Coast, 2012.
The country's inequality of wealth, which prompted much of the resentment against foreigners, remains stark. Above, the home of a cocoa exporter in San Pedro, Ivory Coast on March 6, 2012. Image by Peter DiCampo. Ivory Coast, 2012.
Four local men stand amidst the recent ruins of Zibablu Yeblu, Ivory Coast on March 8, 2012. While large-scale fighting has ceased in the country, small attacks are still carried out, a sign of continued ethnic strife. Zibablu Yeblu was attacked as recently as Feb. 9, 2012. Whether, and when, the violence will end and true reconciliation will begin remains an open question. Image by Peter DiCampo. Ivory Coast, 2012.

Former Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo, whose attempt to remain in power resulted in the deaths of more than 3,000 people last year, has been arrested and is now facing trial at The Hague. The new president, Alassane Ouattara, is tryng to get the country back on track, but life in this West Africa country is still far from settled.

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