Memories of the Ivory Coast

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                                                                                                         Laura Brooks

Memories of the Ivory Coast

 Many people have never heard of the Ivory Coast. It is a vivacious country in my opinion, having lived there and experienced some greatly memorable along with not so pleasurable moments. This West-African Republic was once a French colony where my grandparents and parents lived and immensely appreciated the exquisite quality of life. Unfortunately, this did not remain for very long after 1994 and the death of the long standing President Houphouet- Boigny. Although the natural beauty of the vegetation and African spirit as a whole still remains to this day, the way of life, activities and richness of the country have all deteriorated. Political problems are the main reason for the decline and it became quite dangerous when the young local militia in Abidjan, the capital city where my family and I were living, turned against the French and other Europeans during November 2004.

  At noon on Thursday 4th November I received a call at home from my teacher informing me of riots happening in a nearby district, blocking the route to school. Hence lessons would be cancelled until Monday. My first reaction was not that of real surprise for this was not the first time this had occurred. I had already been obliged to change from the French school to the International school following the second attempted putsch in Ivory Coast on 19th of September 2002 when the situation had also turned rather chaotic. The first coup d’état had been in December 1999, when President Bedié was ousted and fled to France. Demonstrations and riots were not unusual after that, meaning I occasionally missed one or two days of school. However, this time was not quite the same.

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  I did not go back to school that afternoon or the next day, but enjoyed tranquilly swimming in the pool, given the terrific weather of that tropical region. It was on Saturday 6th November that severe happenings began to occur and for the following week we had to stay at home for safety, as did all other foreigners. There had been attacks in the Northern part of the country. Government aeroplanes had bombed the cities occupied by the current President’s political opponents’ (called ‘rebels’). Everything went downhill from there. The next thing, the Government aeroplanes were bombing the French military ...

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