SUMMARY
The conflict between FRCI and FN - IC was played out in the context of the intra-state armed conflict between FRCI and the Government of Ivory Coast (see Government of Ivory Coast - FRCI. While its immediate cause was the creation of the break-away group FN - IC from the main FRCI movement, the reasons behind the fractionalization of the group can be found in the dynamics in the conflict with the government at that time. FRCI was an umbrella group whose member-parties initially fought the Government of Ivory Coast on their own. The splits within the rebel movement can be traced back to 2003. At this time and until 2004, FRCI existed as a loose political coalition, with its three-member groups still acting independently. By 2004, the three groups had merged completely, leaving FRCI as the sole rebel group action against the government. The non-state conflict became active in 2004, then as a fractionalization of FRCI. However, it should be noted that the 2003 events that lead up to the conflict took place within one of FN's member groups, MPCI (Mouvement Patriotique de Côte d'Ivoire, Ivory Coast Patriotic Movement), that was then still acting separately.
The intra-state conflict in Ivory Coast had been ongoing since 2002 when, in 2003, a peace agreement was signed. The signing of the accord brought to the surface divisions within the MPCI over whether a negotiated solution to the conflict was acceptable or not. While the main political leaders of the group were in favor of the agreement, which granted some of the ministerial seats in a new government of national reconciliation, some of the military commanders, loyal to one of the masterminds behind the rebellion Ibrahim Coulibaly (nicknamed IB), were more skeptical.
In mid-2003 the divisions became increasingly palpable. In August of that year IB was arrested in France, charged with planning a coup against president Gbagbo. Even though he was released a month later he was not allowed to leave the country and was thus not able to return to Ivory Coast. The local commanders opposed to the implementation of the accord remained loyal to him, however, and in November the MPCI leadership attempted to break their network by re-assigning them to other parts of the north. Instead of weakening the disgruntled grouping, divisions came to a head-on 18 December 2003 when pro-IC commander Kassoum Bamba went on rebel-run television, declaring that the movement's true leader was Ibrahim Coulibaly and stating that negotiations between the ex-rebels and the Ivorian President were "void and without effect." In 2004, as MPCI had completely merged with MPIGO and MJP, leaving FRCI the sole rebel group fighting the government, the split turned violent, pitting the core FRCI group against the FN - IC-faction.
The most apparent reasons for the conflict between FRCI and FN - IC was, as has been described above, disagreements over the leadership of the rebel movement, and the different faction's attitudes to a negotiated settlement with the Government of Ivory Coast. However, as time progressed it also became apparent that there was a further aspect to the conflict: the control over different parts of the rebel-held zones. Controlling a city provided large economic benefits. To some extent, local commanders ruled areas under their control as their own private fiefdoms where they yielded control over the important commercial networks. In 2004, there were numerous gunfights over ownership of petrol tankers, bars, and night clubs.
The non-state conflict between FRCI and FN - IC is first included in UCDP data in 2004. While there were incidents of shootings between the main FRCI group and the break-away FN - IC in early 2004, the conflict escalated dramatically in June 2004. On 20 June FN - IC-loyalists attacked Soro supporters in Korhogo, a northern town. An assassination attempt was also reportedly made on FRCI leader Guillaume Soro's life when he traveled on a convoy from Burkina Faso to Korhogo. Moreover, hours later fighting broke out in Bouaké, the second-largest city in Ivory Coast, bringing the death toll over the 25 battle-related deaths threshold.
