The crises in Libya and Côte d'Ivoire show a new trend of resolving post-election differences in African countries - taking up weapons with the support of Western countries. This is the opinion of Zhang Zhongxiang, Deputy Director of the Department of West Asian and African Studies of Shanghai Institutes for International Studies. Three points are shown in the Côte d'Ivoire political crisis, he said. These are: 

First, it has been nearly 20 years since the Western countries promoted the multi-party system and democracy in Africa in the early 1990s. On the one hand, African countries have gradually realized that regime change can be realized through democratic elections. Some African countries have held four or five presidential elections. The African Union (AU) also clearly opposes the use of illegal means to change regimes. When an African country stages a military coup, its AU membership will be suspended. On the other hand, there exist complicated national, religious and partisan conflicts in African countries, which tend to break out during presidential elections. Today, people still remember the riots and unrests after the presidential elections in Kenya and Zimbabwe in 2008.

The crisis in Côte d'Ivoire also demonstrates the twists and turns of democracy process in Africa. The former President Laurent Gbagbo is the leader of the Ivorian People's Front party, which is mainly supported by the people of the Krou in the western and central parts of the country, while the elected President Alassane Ouattara is the chief of the Rally of the Republicans party, whose influences are mainly in north Côte d'Ivoire and the Muslim area. The country has been involved in a civil war and north-south dispute since 2002, which makes the situation even worse. Therefore, on the surface, the crisis seems to be the result of the power struggle between Gbagbo and Ouattara. But in fact, it was caused by the long-term confrontation and the lack of mutual trust between two political groups, which fight for national resources. Supported by the armed forces, the two groups represent different ethnic groups and religious beliefs. 

Second, the intervention of the traditional world powers increases in Africa. The AU was relatively self-restrained concerning the political crisis in Côte d'Ivoire. The AU Commission Chairman Jean Ping and several members of the AU Mediation Committee for Côte d'Ivoire came to the country to mediate and negotiate several times, in hopes of solving the problem through peaceful negotiations. But some world powers show biased attitude toward the crisis. They supported one party, while attacked the other party. They first instigated the Economic Community of West African States to intervene by force in Côte d'Ivoire, and later they intervened directly.

After many Western countries launched air strikes against Libya, they urged the UN Security Council to adopt Resolution 1975 on March 30, and carried out military intervention in Côte d'Ivoire as they did in Libya. Since April 4, on the grounds of protecting civilians, the French forces and UN peacekeepers in cooperation with Ouattara's armed forces launched a fierce attack on the last few military strongpoints of Gbagbo's camp in Abidjan, including the official residence of Gbagbo, forcing Gbagbo to surrender on April 11.

The rise in intervention of Western powers in Africa means that they still take Africa as their own sphere of influence. To protect civilians is more of an excuse, and the real purpose is to maintain and even expand their interests in Africa. Thus they could even use force. The UN peacekeepers should remain neutral, but this time they involved themselves in the military conflict between different parties in Côte d'Ivoire, violating the principles of peacekeeping. The UN approved the intervention, which posed a new challenge to the political and economic development of the third world.

Third, ordinary people are the biggest victim of the political crisis. Since Côte d'Ivoire gained its independence in 1960, the economy has witnessed rapid growth and the country has become a rising star in Africa in terms of economic development. However, since the coup in 1999, especially the civil war in 2002, the economy has plummeted. The 2010 presidential election is expected to be a good opportunity to stop its long-time national division and north-south confrontation, and the first step to put the country on track, so as to achieve national reunification and economic revitalization. But it's a pity that political crisis and even armed conflicts broke out. According to statistics from the UN Refugee Agency, since the political crisis broke out after Côte d'Ivoire's election last December, it has caused nearly 1,500 deaths, and more than 1 million people were displaced.

The arrest of Gbagbo ended the chaotic situation of "two leaders in one country." However, the military intervention from outside inevitably caused trauma in the mind of Ivorians, particularly for the Gbagbo camp. Therefore, it's still a difficult and challenging task for Ouattara to realize national reconciliation, and lead Ivorians out of the shadow of the long-time civil war.