FILM: Cote dIvoire: In Search of Stability

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NAIROBI, 20 July 2011 (IRIN) - IRIN Films is pleased to announce the release of C�te d'Ivoire: In Search of Stability, the latest in a series of "primer" documentaries which, through interviews with experts and officials, outlines key issues and challenges faced by various countries. � For much of its post-independence history, C�te d'Ivoire was beacon of stability and an economic powerhouse in West Africa. But a coup d'�tat in 1999 was followed by more than a decade of political turmoil and sporadic armed conflict. An army mutiny in 2002 grew into a full-scale insurrection and the division of the country into the rebel-held north and the south controlled by the government of then President Laurent Gbagbo. � Elections designed to end the crisis were repeatedly delayed but finally held, mostly peacefully, in October and November 2010. Both Gbagbo and his long-time rival Alassane Ouattara, who has close ties with the northern rebels, claimed victory and Gbagbo refused to step down, despite Ouattara's support from the international community. The stand-off degenerated into battles in Abidjan and other parts of the country, prompting up to a million people to flee their homes amid warnings of an imminent civil war. Gbagbo was arrested in April and Ouattara installed as president shortly thereafter. � As this IRIN film explains, although armed conflict and human rights abuses have subsided, Ouattara's new government faces the monumental tasks of rebuilding C�te d'Ivoire's devastated economy, delivering justice in a way that satisfies all citizens, and fostering lasting peace in a deeply divided country still awash with arms. � Previous IRIN Film primers cover Nepal [ http://www.irinnews.org/film/?id=4665 ], Burundi [ http://www.irinnews.org/film/?id=4511 ]and South Sudan's independence referendum [ http://www.irinnews.org/film/?id=4457 ]. � IRIN. All rights reserved. More humanitarian news and analysis: http://www.IRINnews.org