Cote d'Ivoire: The Lost Innocence of Nation's Children

19 March 2012

Abidjan — At first sight the group of children playing in a shaded courtyard in Cote d'Ivoire's economic capital Abidjan seem carefree. But when a defunct car exhaust blasts, they tremble. When a soldier walks past, they shudder. And they become anxious when an unknown adult approaches them.

Almost a year after the West African nation was shaken by six months of violence and terror when former president Laurent Gbagbo refused to cede power to Alassane Ouattara who won the November 2010 presidential elections, Ivorian children are still trying to recover from the psychological and social trauma the unrest caused them.

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