By the end of October, a total of 90,000 IDPs had returned to their villages.¹ Land and property issues remained a factor that affected sustainable socio-economic reintegration.² Nevertheless, the government shifted its focus from humanitarian to development issues.

By December 2009, approximately 88,790 IDPs had returned home.³ However, it was reported that in some areas land disputes affected the return of IDPs.⁴

In 2008, the UN Secretary General’s report suggested that the majority of an estimated 700,000 IDPs were not expected to seek resettlement assistance. The humanitarian community focused on providing assistance only to an estimated 111,000 IDPs.⁵ But the return of IDPs was attributed to coordination between governmental authorities and humanitarian actors in the western part of the country. As a result, as of early July, an estimated 61,432 IDPs had returned home since the signing of the accord.⁶ By the end of December, an estimated 76,000 had spontaneously returned to their villages.⁷

The Ouagadougou Political Agreement called for assistance to be provided for the return of displaced persons. The accord was not clear whether this included internally displaced persons (IDPs) or refugees. Given that the major cause of the conflict was the influx of migrant workers and their resettlement in Ivory Coast, this provision mostly referred to IDPs.

In terms of implementing this particular provision of the accord, the Ministry of Solidarity and Victims of War was said to have developed an assistance program and visited the areas that the displaced would return to. Nevertheless, it was reported that the legal framework to claim that displaced persons had abandoned their homes and properties did not exist as of September.⁸ Between 27 and 29 November, the Humanitarian Coordinator for the humanitarian mission led a delegation comprised of the UN country team, non-governmental organizations, and the donor communities to the western part of the country to evaluate the program and the needs of returnees.⁹ It was reported that approximately 50,000 displaced persons had returned.¹⁰

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