Laurent Gbagbo
President

(pronounced "low-RAHN BAH-bow")

"We continue to dream of a day where the whole Ivorian society will reconcile with itself."

The République de Côte d'Ivoire (Republic of Ivory Coast) is located in West Africa with a 507 km (315 mi) Gulf of Guinea coastline as its southern border and Liberia and Guinea to the west and northwest, Mali and Burkina Faso to the north and northeast and Ghana to the west. Its area is 322,463 sq km (124,503 sq mi). Three vegetation zones define Côte d'Ivoire: a narrow coastal/lagoon region, a central forest belt covering approximately one-third of the country, and a grassy woodland northern region. There are four major rivers draining north-south into the Gulf of Guinea: the Comoe, the Bandama, the Sassandra, and the Cavally (moving...