The demise of Laurent Gbagbo's regime offers fresh opportunities to tackle Cote d'Ivoire's intractable problems. Hundreds of people have lost their lives, about a million have been displaced from their homes, infrastructure and properties have been destroyed, and economic life remains precarious. Gbagbo's continued hold on power would have emboldened leaders who lose elections to stay in office, dealing a blow to the region's fragile democracies.
However, Gbagbo's exit does not solve the problems of Cote d'Ivoire, which remains a divided country. Although Alassane Ouattara won the elections, almost half of the population voted for his opponent. The country's 20 million people of 70 ethnicities form five regional clusters: the Akan in the eastern and central parts of the country; the Krou and allied groups in the southwest; the Southern Mandé in the west; and the Voltaic and Northern Mandé in the north. The southern groups tend to be Christian, and those in the north Muslim. The influx of migrants from predominantly Muslim Burkina Faso, Mali and Guinea in search of work during the boom of the 1960s and 1970s changed the ethnic distribution in favour of Muslims.
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