Editing Laurent Gbagbo (section)

==Civil war==
{{main|First Ivorian Civil War}}
Following the contested election of 2000, there were violent clashes between supporters of the FPI and supporters of the RDR. A [[mass grave]] of 57 bodies was found in [[Yopougon]], Abidjan, in November 2000, containing the corpses of RDR supporters killed by FPI-aligned militias. The RDR launched an [[electoral boycott]] of the December 2000 elections to the parliament. The following month, an attempted [[2001 Ivorian coup attempt|coup d'etat]] against Gbagbo occurred. The government then intensified a crackdown on northerners and those thought to be [[Alassane Ouattara]] supporters; many were jailed or killed.<ref name="Rudolph 2016 288, 292">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OjkVCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA292|title=Encyclopedia of Modern Ethnic Conflicts|edition=2nd|last=Rudolph|first=Joseph R. Jr|date=2016|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=9781610695534|pages=288, 292|language=en}}</ref>

On 19 September 2002 a [[2002 Ivorian coup attempt|revolt]] by northerners against Gbagbo's government partly failed. The rebels, calling themselves the ''Forces Nouvelles'', attempted to seize the cities of Abidjan, [[Bouaké]], and [[Korhogo]]. They failed to take Abidjan, but were successful in the other two cities, as Gbagbo loyalists, with French military assistance, repulsed the attack.<ref name="Rudolph 2016 288, 292"/> Rebels of the [[Patriotic Movement of Côte d'Ivoire]] took control of the northern part of the country.

In March 2003, a new cross-party agreement was made for the formation of a new government led by a consensus figure, [[Seydou Diarra]], and including nine ministers from the rebels, and one year later, UN peacekeeping forces arrived in the country.<ref name="Timeline">[https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-13287585 Ivory Coast profile – Timeline], BBC news (15 January 2019).</ref> In March 2004, however, an anti-Gbagbo rally took place in Abidjan;<ref name="Timeline"/> government soldiers responded by killing some 120 people.<ref name="Watts">Tim J. Watts, "Ivory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire)" in ''Atrocities, Massacres, and War Crimes: An Encyclopedia'' (ed. Alexander Mikaberidze: Vol. 1: ABC-CLIO, 2013), p. 329.</ref> A subsequent UN report concluded that Ivorian government was responsible for the massacre.<ref name="Watts"/>