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Korhogo, Cote dIvoire

Maciej Mońka

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Korhogo is a town and administrative district in the mountainous north-central region of Côte d'Ivoire. It has a population of 163,400 (2002 estimate). It produces and/or processes goods such as cotton, kapok, rice, millet, peanuts, corn, yams, sheep, goats and diamonds. The town was on an important pre-colonial trade route to the Atlantic coast. It is said to have been founded by Nangui, a 14th-century Senufo patriarch. On September 19, Korhogo was seized by disaffected former soldiers rebelling against the rule of President Laurent Gbagbo. The coup was allegedly led by Robert Guéď, the former military dictator overthrown in a popular uprising in 2000. Despite the formal cessation of hostilities between the government and revels in 2003, Korhogo remains unstable, with continued fighting between rival factions. In June 2004, forces loyal to rebel leader Guillaume Soro claimed that his Paris-based rival Ibrahim Coulibaly had attempted to assassinate Soro, leading to gun battles which left 22 dead in Korhogo. In August 2004, the United Nations Ivory Coast mission announced that three mass graves, containing at least 99 bodies, had been discovered in the town.