Ivory Coast

International Activity Report, 2007 2007 was a turning point for Ivory Coast. After four years of civil war and political deadlock, a peace agreement was signed in March, leading to a process of reunification between the government- controlled south and the north of the country, previously held by rebel forces. After a national union government was formed, the 'Zone de Confiance', a buffer zone separating the warring parties, was dismantled in April. Previously monitored by United Nations peacekeepers and French military forces, the zone is now secured by 'Brigades Mixtes', a police force integrating both sides.  Administrative and health civil servants have now redeployed to the north and west, enabling MSF to...

Abdul. Photo: Eric Bouvet/ VII Network Some 3,000 sub-Saharan Africans are stranded in camps at the Tunisian border with Libya. Most had fled violence or repression in their own countries in search of work in Libya. Due to the war, they had to flee. But due to the situations in their native countries, they cannot be repatriated, and are therefore stuck where they are, their futures uncertain. Many had been detained while they were in Libya. Others have lost relatives—parents, husbands, wives, or children. Some were physically injured. Some have endured severe psychological trauma. And now tensions are building in Shousha, the unsurprising result of the collective circumstances of the...

“During the crisis, there were only three of us midwives here in the Anyama hospital,” says Viviane recalling the fighting that raged in Abidjan from late February to April. “There were no doctors and no nurses. Only two nurse-trainees came during the day.” Viviane and two colleagues took 48-hour shifts in order to assist women who managed to reach this hospital, located on the northern edge of Abidjan. Nearly all the health centres in this region of small villages had closed. Despite the midwives' tenacity and courage, many young mothers had to give birth at home because of the fighting and curfew that followed. Viviane's work days are now returning to normal. A Médecins Sans Frontières/...

Salha Issoufou, the Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) Head of Mission in Abidjan, explains the difficulty teams are encountering when trying to treat patients in Abidjan and in the West of Ivory Coast.   How do MSF teams manage to work in Abidjan?   We have been stuck in the offices and at the hospital for the last three days. We can hear gun shots. There are blockades on the streets, and violence continues. The situation is extremely tense and we cannot get out. No cars can move. This morning five wounded arrived very near our offices; we have been able to treat four, but the fifth one died.   Despite these obstacles, MSF continues working. Another MSF team working in the...