NOT QUITE COASTING ALONG YET

TODAY, August 7, is the 61st anniversary of the liberation of the Ivory Coast, or Côte d’Ivoire, from France. By the time the French left, the country had been plundered by so many European powers that ‘Coast’ would have been a more accurate name.

But now it was free from the shackles of colonisation.

In independence, things began well enough, but growing political unrest has marked out much of the 21st century

The country’s flag is the same as Ireland’s, except the orange in Côte d’Ivoire’s banner is beside the flagpole. But the idea is familiar. The Côte d’Ivoire flag represents the people of the south (forest area) in green, united in peace with the people of the north (savannah) in orange.

Sadly it hasn’t worked out quite like that with two civil wars in the 21st century alone, and continuing political and social turmoil. A terrorist attack in 2016 killed 18 people and more or less extinguished the tourist trade. Covid has completed the job — temporarily at least.

Which is a pity because there’s much to see. Oddly enough, for a country that’s only 40% Christian, it boasts the biggest church in the world. The Basilica of our Lady of Peace on the outskirts of Yamoussoukro, completed

in 1990, was modelled on St Peter’s in Rome with hefty additions of renaissance and baroque influences. It holds 18,000, but is very rarely full. The country is also home to three UNESCO World Heritage sites: the historic town of Grand-Bassam, once a colonial trading post; Comoe National Park; and Tai National Park. The specialty of the national parks is a truly remarkable diversity of animals and plants. All this with golden beaches washed by the Gulf of Guinea.

Sadly the advice from the Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin is: don’t go. So all we can do is wish them happy birthday and hope for better times ahead.