This is an authorized translation in English of a post in French by @terresco: Abidjan : La vie sous un coup d'Etat

^{As my primary language is not English, there are probably some mistakes in my translation.}

Remember that the person who speaks here is NOT me, Vincent Celier (@vcelier), but @terresco, a French guy.

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At the end of 1999, there was a coup d'état in Ivory Coast that put an end to a long period of peace and political stability in that country.

This article is not intended to be a historical, political or economic chronicle. This event has already made much ink, in the years that followed, ink poured by people far more knowledgeable than me on the subject. I just want to give my testimony about the daily life in Abidjan where I had been living at that time for almost 6 years. However, some brief historical reminders are needed for the general understanding of events. The knowledge of some names also. Promised, only the indispensable.

So ... How do you experience an unexpected coup when you're a foreigner in a country in Africa?

* * * * *

The father of the nation

Independence brought to power President Félix Houphouët-Boigny, both father of the nation and visionary, he had brought much to this country, developing mainly agriculture. He believed in the land and sent his message so well that all my friends who had lived for a long time in Ivory Coast at that time, have had or have realized an agricultural project. A vision that has succeeded if we look at the agricultural performance of the country still today, coffee, cocoa, pineapple, bananas.

The sage, as he was sometimes called, was a supporter of Françafrique, a close collaboration with the former metropolis. He was close to the highest French leaders, a member of parliament before independence, and several times a French minister. This has helped to make Ivory Coast one of the leading countries in western Africa. An island of prosperity in an ocean of poverty.

In the 1980s the collapse of world coffee and cocoa prices caused a major crisis in Ivory Coast. This was not the first one of course: since its independence the country has met and overcome several such crisis. But perhaps the one that they began to call, with a great respect, the old one (title almost honorific in Africa) did not have as much clear clairvoyance or energy with the difficulties. Or maybe the world had changed?

At the beginning of the 90's, the presidential management allowed itself some mistakes, the age, the disease. I believe that all this has been largely forgiven and has never tarnished his image. I think I can say that for an Ivorian or someone who, for one reason or another, loves Ivory Coast, Félix Houphouët-Boigny will keep his prestige, just like other leaders who gained the independence of their country.

No one should take offense, the simplification of which has just been victim the sage of Ivory Coast is only due to the length of the article. It is a book for the least that the old man deserves, and there were several, probably. Similarly, let us not be naive, simplification avoids showing the darker sides of any political figure. The old man was close to Jacques Foccart, the specialist of Africa of the Élysée Palace, not famous for being a humanist.

Succession

Houphouët-Boigny's successor, after a little political war, was the president of the national assembly, Henri Konan Bédié. His position as President of the National Assembly allowed him to take over after the death of President Houphouët-Boigny until 1995. He was considered the adopted son of the father of the nation. We will not enter the speculations, we heard everything on this subject, the journalists wondering about the true genealogy of the dolphin. In reality, in 1993, Henri Konan Bédié took the reins of power.

It will suffice to say, to present the character, that Henri Konan Bédié was famous for having celebrated his first billion by flying over the city by helicopter throwing bundles of bank notes. At least that was what I have been told when, still very young, I arrived in Ivory Coast to work. Bédié's main concern was the 1995 elections, he had a major opponent (now in power), which he feared above all else: Alassane Ouatara.

Ivoirité

To prevent the latter from being a candidate, he invented the concept of Ivoirité. An invention that politicians have the secret. A fictional concept generating the division of which they are the champions. The idea was that in order to be a presidential candidate, one had to be a true Ivorian, that is to say Ivorian grandparents, which, roughly speaking, excluded the north of the country, not for lack of Ivorian blood but simply because of that part of Ivory Coast did not exist as such at that time before independence.

The plan worked because he was elected by more than 96% of the votes, the other candidates, except one unknown guy, had boycotted the election. I asked people around me, why did you vote for him? The answer was surprising to say the least: He is already rich, at least, maybe he will steal less.

In any case, the concept of Ivoirité was growing; it germinated soon to give birth to a dramatic situation for many people in Ivory Coast. Situation that would last for the next ten years.

* * * * *

It is in this political contest that we were living, exceptionally well, in the Ivory Coast of 1999. The economy had been correctly carried out during the decade, probably favored by the devaluation of the CFA Franc which had followed the death of the "old one" at the beginning of the decade. As in every period of growth everyone was optimistic. Only the most savvy said, in vain, that the economic history of Africa was cyclical. But in the frenzied pace where we lived, at work during the week, weekend at the beach, friends, contacts, projects, no one really thought it could end.

Ivorians took pride in the fact that Ivory Coast had never experienced civil war, religious clashes or coup d'état. Look at Guinea with Sékou Touré, Burkina Faso with Sankara, they said. We here live in harmony, the country is stable for a long time, it is our strength.

And yet ...

Continue to Part 2

-- @terresco