A woman sleeps under a tree in Treichville, a neighborhood of Abidjan, June 2000. © Issouf Sanogo / Agence France-Presse

Soldiers carry men injured during a rush as they came to enroll in the army infront of a police school in Abidjan 12 December 2002. Thousands of Ivorian men responded to an appeal by embattled President Laurent Gbagbo to enlist in the army to help put down a rebellion that has divided the west African country in two. © Issouf Sanogo / Agence France-Presse

Carrying their shields and their weapons soldiers of the 43rd BIMA (French Marine Infantry Regiment) move towards angry protesters outside their compound in Port Boue district, Abidjan, 27 January 2003, as part of continous anti-French demonstration to denounce a Paris-brokered deal that clips Ivoran President Laurent Gbagbo 's powers and give two crucial ministerial posts to reels who launched a ruinous war in September. © Issouf Sanogo / Agence France-Presse

An Ivorian policeman tries to arrest a demonstrator who was throwing stones to French gendarmes 05 October 2004 during a protest at the French military barracks in Abidjan. Dozens of hardline partisans of Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo rallied today outside a French military base to demand the names of 12 French soldiers implicated in a bank robbery in the west of the country. The soldiers allegedly stole 160,000 euros from the Man branch of the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO), which they had been assigned to protect. If they are found guilty it will be the second time in a year that a group of French troops, serving as peacekeepers in the former French colony, is implicated in a bank robbery in Ivory Coast. Dozens of so-called Young Patriots clustered around the base in the main city Abidjan, hurling stones to prevent vehicles from passing through its gates. The French military police stationed outside responded with tear gas. © Issouf Sanogo / Agence France-Presse

Quartier d’Abobo, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. 19 février 2011. Convoi de casques bleus devant une manifestation pro-Ouattara. À l’arrière-plan, la fumée de pneus incendiés. Les forces de sécurité fidèles à Laurent Gbagbo avaient tiré au gaz lacrymogène sur les manifestants. Les élections du 28 novembre, remportées par Ouattara, avaient entraîné le pays dans une véritable crise politique et économique. UN peacekeepers driving past pro-Ouattara demonstrators and smoke from burning tires. Security forces loyal to Laurent Gbagbo had fired teargas at opposition supporters. The country had been in political and economic crisis since the presidential elections on November 28, won by Ouattara. © Issouf Sanogo / Agence France-Presse

Families flee from the Abobo district of Abidjan on February 23, 2011, a day after some 10 troops loyal to Laurent Gbagbo were killed in clashes with unidentified gunmen in the working class district -- a Ouattara stronghold-- according to a security source. Ivory Coast's internationally recognised election winner Alassane Ouattara met African leaders Tuesday on a new mission to mediate rival claims for the presidency amid a surge in deadly clashes. © Issouf Sanogo / Agence France-Presse

Ivory Coast's president Alassane Ouattara, speaks during his inauguration ceremony on May 21, 2011 at Felix Houphouet-Boigny Foundation in Yamoussoukro. Alassane Ouattara was inaugurated Saturday May 21, 2011 as president of the Ivory Coast, which he hopes to reunite following a bloody crisis caused by his predecessor's refusal to concede election defeat. "The time has come to renew the founding values of our beautiful Ivory Coast, and to reunite Ivorians," he said at a ceremony attended by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, President Nicolas Sarkozy of former colonial power France and African leaders. © Issouf Sanogo / Agence France-Presse