Ivory Coast

as those neighbouring countries,few was written before the Europeans came.compared to Ghana,it suffered little from the slave trade.though it's name sounds attractive now,in late 16th century,traders preferred better harbours elsewhere.and France took over it in 1834.they had an overriding goal---to stimulate the production of exports.coffee,cocoa and palm oil crops were soon planted along the coast. and Ivory coast soon became the largest settler(elsewhere,like in Central africa,british and french are beaucratics only,not 'immigrant') area for europeans in West africa.
the first president after independence(with no exception,in 1960) was the leader of a union of African farmers which specially protect the farmers in interior-region.the coffee industy developed a lot---it's the third-largest supplier in the world following Brazil and Colombia. Cocoa did the same,by 1979,it's the leading producer in the world.besides the scenes, French technicians who has masterminded the programe,which was often refered to 'ivory miracle'.in the rest of Africa,europeans are driven out.but in Ivory coast, they poured in .the french community grew from 10,000 to 50,000.for 20 years, it remained a rapid growth rate by 10%---the highest in African non-oil exporting countries.
though the economic blooming, there's no political freedom at all.the president holds iron-fist policy:only one-party,no dissent or opposition was toleranted and many millions of dollars was using to transform his village(!!)into the capital.it's the butt of jokes,but nobody could laugh out when they suffer global recession and local drought hit them in 1980s.and the overcutting price of sugar,the external debt went up threefold.the miracle was over.like many leaders in west African countries, the dictator left office in coffin.
in 1995, a general election was held and the the ex-president's hand-pick successor won the imposing victory against the fragmented and dis-organised rival.and he followed ex's policy---once he won the election,he put hundreds of oppositioins in jail.the economy seemed recover..at least superficially,due to the inflation(which made people poorer) and attempts to reduce the external debt.
in late 1999, some generals uprose a coup and exile the president to France.the coup had the effect of reducing corruption and crime.the generals pressed for austerity and openly campaigned in the street for a less wasterful society.but the whole country still suffer from the unrest political situation and the cities are often rocked down by violence. muslims from the north also involved in a lot of fightings.
in 2002,a civil war splited the country into the muslim north and government south. the foreign troops patrolled in the buffer zone.UN stepped in,announced several bans on the cocoa export.

*today,the headline on Africa page on BBC is: Ivory coast leaders burn weapons to symbolize the end of five-year conflict.although it's said that the peace deal is still skething.in 2002,the rebellion started under the name of presendent's discrimination towards northern muslim.under the peace deal recently signed,the buffer zone patrolled by UN and French peacemakers between two forces has been dismantled.