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Police Reform – 2011

After the contested presidential election, Defence and Security Forces, including the police and gendarmerie remained politicized and divided either as a loyal to the president or to the Forces Républicaines de C™te dÕIvoire (FRCI). Forces nouvelles changed its name to Forces Républicaines de C™te dÕIvoire (FRCI) on 9 March 2011.¹ It was uncertain whether the police and gendarmerie force would unite and be able to return to work.

However, the government made a decision to form the police, gendarmerie, and correction system based upon the old services. There were an estimated 30,000 police and gendarmes in Ivory Coast before the electoral dispute. As of June 2011, 85 percent of the forces registered to return to their work stations (Source: United Nations Secretary General’s Report to the Security Council, S/2011/387, 24 June 2011). By December 2011, over 90 percent of police and gendarmerie forces had returned to work (Source: United Nations Secretary General’s Report to the Security Council, S/2011/807, 30 December 2011).

1. “Secretary General’s Report to the Security Council,” United Nations (S/2011/211), March 30, 2011.