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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Ivory Coast
Index
Time and again, the president has reminded fellow
Ivoirians
that their closest and best friend was France and that
France made
daily sacrifices for Côte d'Ivoire by offering protected
markets
and military assistance. He insisted that France
maintained troops
near Abidjan as a favor to ensure Côte d'Ivoire's security
without
impinging on its larger development plans.
A treaty of cooperation (the Franco-Ivoirian Technical
Military
Assistance Accord--Accord d'Assistance Militaire
Technique) signed
on April 24, 1961, outlined the salient aspects of
Franco-Ivoirian
ties. It provided for the exchange of ambassadors between
the two
countries, named the French ambassador to Abidjan the dean
of the
diplomatic corps, and reserved a "privileged position"
among
diplomats in Paris for the Ivoirian ambassador. The treaty
also
called for regular consultations between the two countries
on
foreign policy matters. France agreed to protect and
represent
Ivoirian interests in any country or international
organization
where there was no Ivoirian representation. Additional
cooperation
agreements signed at the same time covered economic
matters,
education, civil aviation, judicial affairs,
telecommunications,
and technical and military assistance.
The French government agreed to continue providing aid
to Côte
d'Ivoire for a period of five years, with a provision for
five-year
extensions. By encouraging such long-range commitments,
the
agreement enhanced French economic influence in Côte
d'Ivoire.
Concomitantly, Houphouët-Boigny began implementing
policies
that diverged albeit in several minor respects from French
policy.
In 1972 he had Côte d'Ivoire vote against admitting China
to the
United Nations, and until 1985, in contradistinction to
France, he
labeled China and the Soviet Union as threats to Africa.
In the
Middle East, Côte d'Ivoire had been a staunch supporter of
Israel
since 1967, although during much of this time France
regularly took
positions more favorable to the Arabs.
Houphouët-Boigny's reliance on French private
investment and
government loans, coupled with his devotion to French
culture,
determined his stand on virtually every foreign policy
issue. In
the early 1960s, for example, he urged negotiations to
resolve the
Algerian Revolution and, unlike many of his African
counterparts,
refused to condemn France as the responsible party and
refused to
provide Algeria with any material assistance. Meanwhile,
HouphouëtBoigny also supported French nuclear testing in the
Sahara.
Houphouët-Boigny also defended French military
intervention in
Africa.
Data as of November 1988
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