“The Continued Human Crisis in Côte d’Ivoire”

We want to share the following update with you, which we received from Mr. Eliah Kassi, Executive Director at OIC International, Côte d’Ivoire:

“The war has caused many people currently [to be] displaced throughout the country. Currently just for the city of Bouake where OIC-Côte d’Ivoire is located, we [have] registered more than 15,000 people displaced by war. These people have all abandoned [their homes] and in their flight[,] came to seek refuge in Bouake. With the help of local authorities and NGOs we are currently register[ing] them in an [effort] to help them. For now, their needs are mainly in food, clothing, and other basic necessities.”

As many of you no doubt know, Côte d’Ivoire has been embroiled in a long and costly political crisis. Despite the capture of president incumbent Laurent Gbagbo by Alassane Ouattara’s forces, the humanitarian and economic impact from this month of violence will only get worse. During the months of the political impasse, nearly one million Ivoirians have been displaced with hundreds of thousands fleeing to neighboring countries. Côte d’Ivoire, whose poverty level has gone from 10% in 1985 to nearly 43% in 2008 according to the World Bank, will endure struggles long after the eyes of the international media and community have turned away.

OIC International, however, has been working in the country since 1986, and we will continue our tireless efforts to help Ivoirians surmount the current crisis and to flourish in the future. We are working closely with the UNDP to support displaced persons, through a new priority implementation area for the city of Bouake, called early recovery, which seeks to “identify projects to revenue initiatives that can enable people displaced by war to take charge themselves.”

We will keep you updated on the struggles in Côte d’Ivoire as well as the recovery efforts by OIC-Côte d’Ivoire.

Thank you for your continued support. To make a donation to support our work in Côte d’Ivoire and other OIC International initiatives, visit oicinternational.org.

Sincerely

Your OIC International team