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Ivory Coast
Index
In 1959 several West African members of the French
Community
formed the Mali Federation. Although the federation
initially
included Senegal, French Sudan, Upper Volta, and Dahomey,
all but
Senegal and French Sudan withdrew quickly under pressure
from
Houphouët-Boigny, who regarded the federation's desire for
independence from France as a threat to the economic
development of
the former French colonies. Nonetheless, the federation
gained
independence in June 1960 and split into the two
independent
nations of Senegal and Mali.
Meanwhile, to counterbalance the Mali Federation,
HouphouëtBoigny in 1959 successfully convinced several other West
African
leaders to form the Council of the Entente (Conseil de
l'Entente--
Entente)--a loose grouping that included Niger, Dahomey
(presentday Benin), Upper Volta (present-day Burkina Faso), and
Côte
d'Ivoire--to pool their resources for economic
development.
Houphouët-Boigny's argument against independence
quickly lost
its appeal among other members of the French Community
following
the independence of Senegal and Mali. In addition, in
early 1960
the French government sponsored an amendment to the 1958
constitution that permitted community members to gain
complete
independence but remain within the community.
Houphouët-Boigny was
opposed to this reconstituted community, which he
considered a new
federation, and in August 1960 Côte d'Ivoire withdrew from
the
community and became independent. Houphouët-Boigny was the
first
head of state.
On October 31, 1960, the National Assembly of Côte
d'Ivoire
adopted a constitution establishing an independent
republic. Those
involved in the drafting of the Constitution, including
HouphouëtBoigny and other PDCI members, wanted to establish a
strong and
stable government based on democratic principles. They
also wanted
a presidential system based on the separation of powers
between the
executive and legislative branches of government and an
independent
judiciary. In practice, however, a gap developed between
the
democratic principles written into the Constitution and
political
practice. The PDCI leadership equated national unity with
unanimous
support for the PDCI and believed that competition among
political
parties would waste resources and destroy unity.
Therefore,
election provisions made it almost impossible for another
party to
win seats in the National Assembly. As the sole political
party,
the PDCI came to exercise political control over all
branches of
government.
By the late 1960s, power was concentrated in the hands
of
Houphouët-Boigny, who, in addition to his position as
president,
was also titular president of the PDCI. Loyal colleagues
received
positions of authority within the police and armed forces,
as well
as in the government and PDCI. Philippe Yacé, who held the
positions of secretary general of the PDCI and president
of the
National Assembly, was the second most powerful figure in
Côte
d'Ivoire. The president appointed the administrative heads
of the
6 departments (départements), 24 prefectures
(préfectures), and 107 subprefectures (souspréfectures ), which constituted the administration of
Côte
d'Ivoire
(see Local Government
, ch. 4). Houphouët-Boigny
also
selected the thirty-five members of the Economic and
Social Council
(Conseil Economique et Social), a government body, and,
with the
Political Bureau, chose the members of the National
Assembly.
Houphouët-Boigny further consolidated his power by
circumscribing the prerogatives of the National Assembly
(see The National Assembly
, ch. 4). Presidential and PDCI control
of
assembly membership precluded an independent or opposition
role by
the assembly in the decision-making process. At the same
time, the
existence of an assembly with responsibility for approving
proposed
laws legitimized the government's democratic pretensions.
Moreover,
the PDCI used the assembly as a means of co-opting
potential
government opponents and securing their loyalty by
providing
deputies with a variety of privileges and amenities.
Finally, the
government channeled its major decisions through the
assembly to
the ethnic and interest groups that its members supposedly
represented, thereby again giving the appearance of
legitimate
government.
Houphouët-Boigny also took steps to ensure the new
regime's
security. Although Côte d'Ivoire had no military until
more than a
year after independence, one was finally organized and
strengthened
with French assistance. Ivoirian members of the French
colonial
marine infantry who had been born in Côte d'Ivoire were
transferred
to Abidjan in October 1961 and formed the core of the
first
battalion. By late 1962, the military comprised about
5,300
soldiers organized into four battalions
(see Constitutional, Legal, and Administrative Structure
, ch. 5).
Data as of November 1988
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