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Ivory Coast
Negotiated by elite leader Houphouët-Boigny, maintaining close economic and defense ties with France.
- Independence
- August 7, 1960
- Before
- French Ivory Coast
- Metropole
- France
- Leader
- Félix Houphouët-Boigny
- Transition
- Negotiated
- Movement
- Parti Démocratique de Côte d'Ivoire (PDCI-RDA)
“I hate hatred, and I disapprove of all violence in relations between people. (J'ai la haine de la haine et je désapprouve toute violence dans les rapports entre les hommes.)”
— Félix Houphouët-Boigny, January 25, 1960
Planters Organise
France declared the Ivory Coast a colony in 1893. Its cocoa and coffee economy favoured European planters, who received forced African labour and better prices. In September 1944 Félix Houphouët-Boigny, a medical assistant, canton chief and wealthy cocoa planter, founded the Syndicat Agricole Africain to defend African farmers. The union became the base for the Parti Démocratique de Côte d'Ivoire, founded in April 1946, and in October 1946 Houphouët-Boigny helped launch the inter-territorial Rassemblement Démocratique Africain (RDA) at Bamako.
Ending Forced Labour
Elected to the French Constituent Assembly in 1945, Houphouët-Boigny sponsored the law of 11 April 1946 that abolished forced labour throughout French overseas territories. Between 1949 and 1950 the colonial administration repressed the RDA: thousands of activists were jailed and demonstrators were shot, notably at Dimbokro in January 1950. In October 1950 Houphouët-Boigny broke the RDA's alliance with the French Communist Party and turned to cooperation with Paris. From February 1956 he served as a minister in the French government, and he supported Gaston Defferre's Loi Cadre of June 1956.
Independence Without Rupture
Houphouët-Boigny opposed federal structures such as the one Senghor proposed for French West Africa, fearing the richer Ivory Coast would subsidise its neighbours. He preferred autonomy for each territory and close bilateral ties with France. In 1959 he formed the looser Conseil de l'Entente with neighbouring states. Once independence within the French Community became possible, the Ivory Coast took it on 7 August 1960 by negotiation. Houphouët-Boigny, already prime minister, was elected president in November 1960.
Chronology
- March 10, 1893 — Ivory Coast becomes a French colony
- September 1944 — Syndicat Agricole Africain founded
- April 11, 1946 — Houphouët-Boigny Law abolishes forced labour
- October 1946 — RDA founded at the Bamako congress
- October 1950 — RDA breaks with the French Communist Party
- February 1, 1956 — Houphouët-Boigny joins the French cabinet
- August 7, 1960 — Independence
Aftermath
Houphouët-Boigny was president until his death on 7 December 1993. His rule saw strong cocoa- and coffee-driven growth, often called the 'Ivorian miracle'. He was a pillar of close Franco-African ties and of the moderate Brazzaville and Monrovia groups. After his death, disputes over succession and over 'Ivoirité' (who counted as Ivorian) led to civil war from 2002 to 2007 and a violent post-election crisis in 2010–11.
Legacy
Houphouët-Boigny's pragmatic, pro-French strategy delivered two decades of economic growth and political stability, but tied the country closely to France and to a single ruler. Without an agreed succession or an inclusive idea of citizenship, that model failed after his death and the country fell into conflict.