SUMMARY
MPCI (Mouvement Patriotique de Côte dIvoire, Ivory Coast Patriotic Movement) was a rebel group based in northern Ivory Coast, active 2002 and 2003. The movement went on to create an umbrella group with two other Ivorian rebel groups in 2003, the FN (Fources Nouvelles, New Forces). FN was led by MPCI leader Guillaume Soro and it was evident that it was elements from this group that dominated the new organisation.
MPCI launched its rebellion on 19 September 2002 by a coordinate attack on three main cities in Ivory Coast. What first appeared to be mutinous troops attempting to topple the regime, soon turned out to be a much more well-planned and political affair. The background to MPCI’s formation can at least partly be traced back to developments in Ivory Coast in the 1990s. After having been the richest country in West Africa and one of the continent’s largest economies, Ivory Coast’s economy started to recede in the late 1980s. As austerity measures were introduced the political elite started to turn on the large migrant worker community in the country as a means to hold on to power. The immigrants were made scapegoats for the harder economic climate, and subsequently the concept of “Ivorité” was introduced, effectively stripping the northern Muslim population as well as immigrants of property and voting rights. Furthermore, the parties in the newly introduced pluralist political system played upon ethnic, regional and religious differences and used it as a way to access power. This effectively marginalized both the Muslim North and the immigrant community, creating resentment against the regime. MPCI was mobilised around these grievances.
The planning of the rebellion, and subsequently the first attempts at forming the group, started in Ouagadougou in 2001. A number of young northern NCOs (Non Commissioned Officers) had fled the country after falling out with then military ruler General Guei and were welcomed in neighbouring Burkina Faso. Burkinabe President Blaise Compaoré had a long record of involvement in conflicts in West Africa and by 2001 he also became involved in developments in Ivory Coast. A majority of the migrant workers in Ivory Coast were of Burkinabe origin and the increasingly hostile tone towards them prompted many to return home. This meant trouble for Compaoré, who turned on his former ally Laurent Gbagbo when he came to power in Ivory Coast. Apart from providing the nascent rebellion with a secure base, Burkina Faso also aided it by training the leaders in logistics, communication and clandestine operations. Furthermore, credible reports indicate that the support continued when the conflict was underway, with Burkina Faso supplying the rebels with arms.
Apart from the support received from Burkina Faso, MPCI cooperated with fellow-Ivorian rebel groups MPIGO (Mouvement Populaire Ivoirien du Grand Ouest, Ivorian Popular Movement for the Great West) and MJP (Mouvement pour la Justice et la Paix, Movement for Justice and Peace), with the latter considered by some to be a direct offspring from MPCI. Analysts argue that the groups appear to have coordinated attacks and offensives, especially in 2002. However, the relationship between the three movements was volatile and in 2003, when reports of MPIGO’s and MJP’s Liberian and Sierra Leonean fighters’ abuses against the civilian population started to surface, cooperation turned to open conflict for some months. The MPCI leadership decided that the Liberians and Sierra Leoneans were a political liability and proceeded to push them out of the country.
The core leaders of MPCI, present in Ouagadougou in the build-up to the conflict, cooperated with elements in the Ivorian army and when the rebellion was finally launched the group was also joined by traditional dozo hunters as well as numerous soldiers who had been purged from the army due to their northern origin. Furthermore, playing on a shared ethnicity (the rebels were mainly Dioulas, which is the main ethnic group in northern Ivory Coast) and the northern population’s grievances concerning political exclusion and discriminatory policies, MPCI at the outset of the conflict was able to recruit numerous civilians into the movement.
After the initial phase of the fighting, the country was effectively divided in two, with MPCI controlling roughly 60 %. The group turned out to be remarkably well organised. Each principal city under MPCI control was led by a joint head of operations, functioning as both military commander and territorial administrator. Viewing itself as a liberation movement, the group wanted to maintain its reputation as such among both the local and international community, which is one of the reasons cited for the rebels’ attempt to provide the civilian population with at least a minimum of social services. As time has passed, a northern administration has gradually been built up – functioning or nor has been a matter of debate.
The top political leadership of MPCI was from the beginning in the hands of Guillaume Soro, a former leader of a student organisation in Ivory Coast. The military mastermind behind the rebellion was initially Ibrahim Coulibaly, called IB (who later fell out with Soro, see FN-IB faction actor description).
MPCI has been involved in the intra-state, non-state and one-sided categories of UCDP organised violence.
