Jay reports that things are still “weird” in Cote d’Ivoire. Life goes on (seemingly) as usual, so it is easy for the entrenched Gbagbo to delude himself and his followers into believing that his regime will weather the storm.
The international community remains supportive of the president-elect (Ouattara) and has issued political and trade sanctions to hinder Gbagbo’s charade. Prices of food have doubled and almost tripled and because of the trade embargo, many goods (like petrol) are becoming scarce. Also, due to the ban, the country’s main export, cocoa, can no longer be shipped out of Ivoirian ports. So, it is rotting in the fields or being smuggled out by other routes (ones that Gbagbo’s government cannot benefit from). It seems that Gbagbo will soon be unable to pay salaries for government workers and the military. (Since he is not the real president of Cote d’Ivoire, none of the international banks will cash his checks.)
As the days pass, and the key players go about their tedious political game, we constantly fluctuate between hope and despair. Living in limbo is not very fun, but whenever we feel annoyed, we remind ourselves that it must be even more unbearable for the Ivoirians. Their country is a mess and (if the situation continues beyond 6 months) they don’t have the option of being reassigned.
We hope that the situation will sort itself out soon, hopefully without any further violence or hardship. So far, nearly 400 Ivoirians have been killed and 82,000 have sought refuge in neighboring countries.
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