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Once hailed as a model of stability, during the first decade of the twenty-first century Ivory Coast slipped into the kind of internal strife that has plagued so many African countries. An armed rebellion in 2002 split the nation in two. Since then, peace deals have alternated with renewed violence as the country has slowly edged its way towards a political resolution of the conflict. For more than three decades after independence under the leadership of its first president, Felix Houphouet-Boigny, Ivory Coast was conspicuous for its religious and ethnic harmony and its well-developed economy. Ivory Coast is the world's leading producer of cocoa, a key ingredient of chocolate All this ended when the late Robert Guei led a coup which toppled Felix Houphouet-Boigny's successor, Henri Bedie, in 1999. Mr Bedie fled, but not before planting the seeds of ethnic discord by trying to stir up xenophobia against Muslim northerners, including his main rival, Alassane Ouattara. At a ...

Continued,.... ...No direct link has yet been found between the legal sales and increased killings or trade. But campaigners fear the existence of a legal trade is helping to provide cover for a much more extensive black market. The decision to allow further legal ivory into the country in 2008 made the situation worse, according to Grace Ge Gabriel, from the International Fund for Animal Welfare. "We have found that every one legal activity comes with nearly six illegal trading activities. So this domestic market provides opportunity for people to launder illegally obtained ivory," she said. In a statement, the Chinese government said it had a "consistent and firm position to fight against the illegal trade of ivory". It said possible individual breaches should not be used to deny "the efforts and progress China has made". Ivory has been prized in China for centuries The debate over the legal ivory trade is set to be reignited later this year when ...

Despite a 23-year ban on international trade in ivory, elephants continue to be shot for their prized tusks, with much of the material ending up on sale in China. The very future of the African elephant, the largest land animal on Earth, could be at risk. Last year saw the highest number of large seizures of illegal ivory for more than two decades. From Kenya to Zambia, African law-enforcement and conservation authorities are facing a continuing battle with the poachers. And it is in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where governance is at its weakest, that the elephant population is being hit hardest, with thousands of elephants killed each year. Conservationists have recorded steep declines in population and fear fewer than 20,000 of the region's forest elephants remain in the Congo basin. Find out more Panorama: Ivory Wars - Out Of Africa, is broadcast on BBC One, Thursday 12 April at 21:00 BST Or catch up later via iPlayer In Kinshasa, the capital of DRC, poached ivor...