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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Ivory Coast
Index
In the late 1980s, reportedly 60,000 to 120,000
Lebanese and
Syrians lived in Côte d'Ivoire, although some observers
gave a
figure as high as 300,000. Many descended from families
that had
been established in Côte d'Ivoire for more than a century.
Along
with the French, they were the most easily identifiable
foreign
group. They generally resided in enclaves, married within
their
community, and resisted integration. At the same time,
many held
Ivoirian citizenship. Although they were concentrated in
Abidjan,
there was a Lebanese or Syrian family or two in virtually
every
community of more than 5,000 people. Some members of the
Levantine
community were Christian; of the Muslims, most were Shia.
Significantly, the waves of Lebanese émigrés who arrived
in Côte
d'Ivoire after the Lebanese civil war began in 1975
brought with
them the same political beliefs that divided groups in
Lebanon. As
of the mid-1980s, violence among Lebanese had not erupted
in Côte
d'Ivoire; nevertheless, the government considered
sectarian
violence a distinct possibility.
The Arab community was known for its entrepreneurial
skills and
had long played a leading role in certain intermediate
sectors of
the economy, especially commerce. The Arabs dominated in
areas such
as textiles, shoes, petroleum distribution, and coffee and
cocoa
brokering. The Lebanese had also invested heavily in urban
real
estate and were among the first to develop hotels and
restaurants
in previously less accessible areas of the interior. For
the most
part, Houphouët-Boigny ardently defended the presence of
the
Lebanese community, citing its contributions to the
Ivoirian
economy. The Lebanese community, in turn, sought to assure
the
Ivoirian leadership of its loyalty and its commitment to
national
goals by public declarations and by charitable
contributions in
support of cultural and sporting events.
The jump in the Levantine population since 1975,
coupled with
its growing domination of commerce, made it a target of
increasing
protest. In the mid-1980s, Houphouët-Boigny began issuing
warnings
to merchants--unmistakably Lebanese--who were allegedly
guilty of
customs fraud and monopolistic practices. Thus, the
unconditional
welcome that the Lebanese community had enjoyed appeared
to be
wearing out.
Data as of November 1988
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