Kyle+-+ASID+-+SP13

My name is Alassane Ouattara and I am the current President of Côte d’Ivoire. As an advocate for Africa, I believe that Côte d’Ivoire is doing the right things to be awarded the $5,000,000 prize by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation.
 * Name: **

Originally being known as the Ivory Coast, the government has since changed the name of the country to Côte d’Ivoire in 1985. Côte d’Ivoire is located along the Gulf of Guinea in western Africa between the Ghana and Liberia. In essence, five surrounding countries bound my country with the Gulf at our southern border. The elevation in Côte d’Ivoire is relatively flat, consisting of mostly flat plains or rolling plains. However, there are mountains located in the northwest region of my country, with the highest point being Monts Nimba standing at 5,728 feet. Although, this region is sparsely populated, unlike the coastline and capital, Yamoussoukro is. The climate is also very tropical along the coastline and semiarid in the far north region.
 * Country: **

As for the total population of my country, it stands at 21,952,093 people as of July 2012, making it the 55th most populous country in the world. Like I said, most of the citizens here live along the coast, with almost 32 people living per square kilometer compared to 10 people living per square kilometer in the northern region. This leaves the forested area in the northern region of Côte d’Ivoire to use the majority of the land for farming and agriculture rather than residential.

Speaking of farming, the economy in Côte d’Ivoire is heavily dependent on agriculture and related activities, engaging 68% of the population. My country is responsible for the largest amount of cocoa beans that are produced and exported, as well as being a significant producer and exporter of coffee and palm oil. This makes the economy here very sensitive to fluctuations in international prices of these products as well as climatic conditions, which include very dry or wet seasons. But recently, due to the civil war and political turmoil I was involved in, the economy has suffered a major hit, and my country has been provided $4.4 billion in debt relief in order to fix the issues after the war had ended.

Society in Côte d’Ivoire is very diverse, with more than half of the population being involved in agriculture, yet outside of that are many people with urban jobs, who are normally found near the coastline. Religion is also very diverse throughout my country, with most of those religions having changed so that they reflect the social trends. Urbanization is also very huge in Côte d’Ivoire, having rapidly grown since 1950 at an annual rate of 11.5% until 1965 and only lowered slightly after that to 8% annually. This urban development is changing the way people go about their everyday lives.

I was born on January 1, 1942 in Dimbokro, Côte d’Ivoire. I received a bachelor’s degree in science from Drexel University and then later received my master’s degree and PhD in economics from the University of Pennsylvania. I worked as an economist for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington D.C. from 1968 to 1973. From that I became the BCEAO’s // Chargé de Mission // in Paris from 1973 to 1975. I continued to work with the BCEAO eventually becoming Governor on October 28, 1988 as well as work with the IMF from 1984 to 1987. In April 1990, the Ivorian President appointed me Chairman of the Inter-ministerial Committee for Coordination of the Stabilization and Economic Recovery Program of Côte d’Ivoire at the time. While this was going on, I was still Governor of BCEAO, but once I became Prime-Minister of Côte d’Ivoire in November, I had to relieve my duties as Governor. I was later elected president of the RDR and chosen to be the candidate for the next presidential election. Although, I was accused of forgery and an investigation was done and I was disqualified from the 2000 election. Later though after everything was sorted out, I was told I was allowed to run for president next time, which turned into a big ordeal after Laurent Gbagbo wouldn’t step down.
 * Background: **

My references include the United Nations, the African Union and Laurent Gbagbo. The United Nations have been residing in my country since before I was president in 2004. When the peacekeepers were orders to leave the country by Gbagbo, the United Nations recognized me as the legitimate winner of the election and therefore didn’t have any obligations towards Gbagbo to respect his demands. Even after Gbagbo threatened to treat the peacekeepers like rebels, they still stayed, which showed a lot about how much they respect me as the rightful winner of that election in 2010. As for the African Union, it is a union consisting of 54 African states. This union has many objectives towards bettering Africa as a whole continent, and one of which pertains specifically to the issue of the Post-Election Crisis that has been going on. And I quote, the union “promotes democratic principles and institutions, popular participation and good governance” which is exactly what this crisis in Côte d’Ivoire is about -- good governance. Over the years I have seen Gbagbo lead the country into a civil war and cause many other disputes, and by me replacing him, I will work hard to fix his wrong doings. Finally, Laurent Gbagbo, the ex-president of Côte d’Ivoire is one of my supporters because after he refused to step down from president, he was arrested and he was quoted saying “All my life, I fought for democracy.” So if this is in fact true what he said, then we are sharing a cause that we both have fought for or are fighting for now. Despite what he has done in the past, I will try to fix the problems, yet still keep the bigger picture of democracy at hand.
 * References: **

With me in charge of Côte d’Ivoire now, the transfers of power should be easier which in turn will not cause disputes in the future post-elections. With the rebel fighting having died down since Gbagbo has been arrested, there will be no reason to postpone democratic elections anymore. The only reason conflicts ever arose in my country was because Gbagbo had delayed the election multiple times and when elections were held, according to the Constitutional Council, votes from the northern region were thrown out because “they had not been turned over by an agreed-upon deadline”. Under my rule, the Constitutional Council will be the same as it was before Gbagbo was in charge, unbiased. Also, if I were to win the prize money, I would put part of it towards the government in order to insure that when election time rolls around, the government is ready for a new leader. This would eliminate another reason for postponing the elections.
 * Safety and Rule of Law: **

When Gbagbo was in charge, he had the Constitutional Council throwaway votes that were from the northern region of Côte d’Ivoire because they hadn’t been turned over by an agreed-upon deadline. Now if it weren’t for this region’s votes, I would not be president right now. So of course I won’t limit anyone’s participation in free and fair elections, especially if they have helped me to get elected. Also, a democracy is where the people have the supreme power, yet Gbagbo was taking power away from the people, yet going around and saying he fought for democracy.
 * Participation and Human Rights: **

In order to recover from the debt we as a country have gotten into, we must manage the budget. Over the years, we have gone through a civil war and a few other disputes and because of this we have been provided with $4.4 billion in debt relief so there is no excuse for not managing the budget. In order to manage the budget, if I win the prize money, I could use it to kick-start our economy by using it to build oilrigs, which will not fluctuate as much as agriculture does. So that way, we will always have a steady income of money despite there being a drought or fluctuation in the cost to sell cocoa beans and other agricultural products.
 * Sustainable Economic Opportunity: **

Our economy is mostly based on agriculture, which is a very fluctuating income. This is why there is no room for us to ruin an area of land that is perfect for more farming, such as dumping urban waste. Our country is advancing very fast when it comes to urbanizing and we need to make sure we protect our environment during the process so that we don’t ruin our economy any more than it already is. If I were to win the prize money, I would also put some of it towards funding clean energy so that way our environmental policy can be sustained. All in all, our rating as a country stands at 39, putting Côte d’Ivoire in 46th place. But with the prize money, I feel that I could lead my country into the right direction, significantly bettering our score as a country.
 * Human Development: **

Works Cited:

"African Union." //Wikipedia//. Wikimedia Foundation, 28 Feb. 2013. Web. 28 Feb. 2013. < [] >.

"Alassane Ouattara." //Wikipedia//. Wikimedia Foundation, 21 Feb. 2013. Web. 28 Feb. 2013. < [] >.

Briney, Amanda. "Geography of Cote D'Ivoire (Ivory Coast)." //About.com Geography//. About.com, 21 Jan. 2011. Web. 28 Feb. 2013. < [] >.

"Côte d'Ivoire Post-Election Crisis." //Global Issues in Context Online Collection//. Detroit: Gale, 2013. //Global Issues In Context//. Web. 28 Feb. 2013.

"Ivory Coast - The Society." //Ivory Coast - SOCIETY//. Mongabay.com, n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2013. < [] >.

"Ivory Coast's Gbagbo Tells ICC He 'fights for Democracy'" //BBC News//. BBC, 28 Feb. 2013. Web. 28 Feb. 2013. < [] >.

"The World Factbook." //Central Intelligence Agency//. CIA, n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2013. < []