<P> New laws about eligibility, nationality and property are due to be adopted to address this issue, but if they are delayed, inscription of electors will be impossible before the next elections . This might lead to a dangerous situation where the government would stick to power, which the rebellion would likely not accept . </P> <P> Tensions between Ivory Coast and France increased on November 6, 2004, after Ivorian air strikes killed 9 French peacekeepers and an aid worker . In response, French forces attacked the airport at Yamoussoukro, destroying all airplanes in the Ivorian Air Force . Violent protests erupted in both Abidjan and Yamoussoukro, and were marked by violence between Ivorians and French peacekeepers . Thousands of foreigners, especially French nationals, evacuated the two cities . </P> <P> Most of the fighting ended by late 2004, with the country split between a rebel - held north and a government - held south . In March 2007 the two sides signed an agreement to hold fresh elections, though they ended up being delayed until 2010, five years after Gbagbo's term of office was supposed to have expired . </P> <P> After northern candidate Alassane Ouattara was declared the victor of the 2010 Ivorian presidential election by the country's Independent Electoral Commission (CEI), the President of the Constitutional Council--an ally of Gbagbo--declared the results to be invalid and that Gbagbo was the winner . Both Gbagbo and Ouattara claimed victory and took the presidential oath of office . The international community, including the United Nations, the African Union, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the European Union, the United States, and former colonial power France affirmed their support for Ouattara and called for Gbagbo to step down. However, negotiations to resolve the dispute failed to achieve any satisfactory outcome . Hundreds of people were killed in escalating violence between pro-Gbagbo and pro-Ouattara partisans and at least a million people have fled, mostly from Abidjan . </P>

Until the 1840s the ivory coast was protected from european powers by an