Venezuela Leaves Andean Community

Country Name: Venezuela (English, Spanish)
Official Name: Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (English), República Bolivariana de Venezuela (Spanish)
News Category: Intergovernmental Organization Membership
Summary: Venezuela has withdrawn from the Andean Community (CAN) customs union, in favor of joining Mercosur, another union in South America. The switch has been represented as a protest against free trade agreements made with the United States on the part of CAN members Peru and Colombia. Admission into Mercosur is still pending, though Venezuela remains a member of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR).

Venezuela (red) has left CAN (orange) in anticipation of joining
Mercosur (green). Other UNASUR members are in blue. Map
includes all claimed territories of the member states. My own
work, based on this map by Wikimedia user Luan (terms of use).

Full Story
Although nation-states are usually considered the basic units of the modern political globe, it has become common in recent decades for countries to work together towards integration at a higher level. The most well known case, and probably the furthest advanced, is the European Union. However, there are a number of other intergovernmental organizations working for integration in other parts of the world. In South America, supranational integration has progressed largely through two major trade blocs: the Southern Common Market (known by its Spanish or Portuguese abbreviations, "Mercosur" or "Mercosul") and the Andean Community (known by the Spanish abbreviation, CAN).

The Andean Community represents a group of countries in the northwestern part South America, while Mercosur is centered around the southeastern region of the continent. The country of Venezuela, located in the north of the continent at the meeting place of the two blocs, has long been a member of the Andean Community. However, in 2006 the Venezuelan government announced the intention to switch its membership to Mercosur. Citing free trade agreements made between the United States and CAN members Peru and Colombia, Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez announced that he believed CAN was no longer relevant. After five years, Venezuela fully withdrew this month from the Andean Community. Admission to Mercosur is still pending, though it seems likely in the near future.

CAN and Mercosur have both implemented trade agreements forming customs unions between their members - that is, they have mostly eliminated tariffs between member countries, and have also unified their external customs regulations to be consistent among the whole bloc. They have also proceeded with other cooperative programs, such as coordinating economic policies and setting up courts with international jurisdiction. Over the last decade, they have been working towards integrating with each other to form the Union of South American Nations (USAN or UNASUR/UNASUL), an organization modeled after the European Union. In fact, UNASUR includes all of South America's sovereign states, independently of their membership in CAN or Mercosur, which means that Venezuela will remain a member of UNASUR during its transition period. Venezuela's bid to join Mercosur had originally been seen as a gesture towards integration between Mercosur and CAN, though that is clearly not the case now that the country has withdrawn from CAN.


Wikipedia:
Venezuela
Andean Community (CAN)
Southern Common Market (Mercosur)
Union of South American Nations (UNASUR)

Ivory Coast Reunited After Division

Country Name: Ivory Coast/Côte d'Ivoire (English), Côte d'Ivoire (French)
Official Name: Republic of Côte d'Ivoire (English), République de Côte d'Ivoire (French)
News Category: Divided Countries
Summary: After being divided unofficially into two states during a 2002 civil war, nominally united under an unstable unity government from 2003-2010, and falling again into civil war last month, Ivory Coast is now again reunited as a single state. The change came about through a military campaign on the part of forces loyal to the newly elected president, who had not been allowed to take office after the election.

Map of the March 2011 unification campaign. Rebel territories
and movements in orange. Public domain map created from
U.N. materials by Wikimedia user Prioryman (source).

Full Story
Although the modern concept of a "country" implies that it should be a sovereign state under a single government, in actuality there are many gaps in this system - the official government of a country doesn't always have real control over the whole country. Until recently, the West African republic of Ivory Coast was one of these divided countries.

Also known by its French name, Côte d'Ivoire, Ivory Coast is a former French colony that became independent in 1960. The country is divided officially into 19 regions (similar to provinces), which are further subdivided into "departments", following the naming conventions used for local government in France. Officially, the capital city is Yamoussoukro, near the center of the country, but during the recent period of division, the largest city of Abidjan in the south has sometimes served as an unofficial capital for the established government, while the northern city of Bouaké has served as the unofficial capital of the rebel "New Forces".

The country first became divided at the outbreak of the First Ivorian Civil War eight years ago. The government had effectively rigged the presidential election in 2000 by banning the opposition candidate at the last minute. The candidate, Alassane Ouattara, took his support largely from northerners, perceived as "foreigners" by the government and many southern Ivorians because of their alleged ancestry in neighboring Burkina Faso and Mali. Already politically and ethnically divided, Ivory Coast split into two separate de facto states in September 2002, when a large number of soldiers defected from the government, quickly taking control of the northern half of the country.

Divisions after the first civil war. New Forces in green,
established government in purple, and 2007 buffer zone
in yellow. Map by Hégésippe Cormier, used under
Creative Commons license (details).

The civil war ground to a temporary halt after intervention by French troops stationed in the country, which was nominally reunited under a compromise agreement from 2003-2010. However, for much of this time the north and south remained under separate administrations, and there were regular outbreaks of violence during the first few years. In October 2010, nation-wide elections were held to choose the president of a reunited Ivory Coast. Alassane Ouattara was deemed official winner by the Electoral Commission, with the U.N. and other international bodies agreeing that the election was fair. However, outgoing president Laurent Gbagbo refused to accept the results, claiming that polls in the rebel-held north had been rigged.

In late February of 2011, the rebel New Forces launched an offensive to take the southern half of the country and reunite it under president elect Ouattara. Over the course of the next month, they took control of most of the country in the name of democracy, though several brutal massacres of civilians occurred along the way. After a long standoff between the New Forces and Gbagbo's supporters in Abidjan, Gbagbo was finally arrested with the help of French and U.N. forces on April 11. Although today there are still pockets of fighting between rival militias, for the most part Ivory Coast is now a single state again under the government of president Alassane Ouattara.

Wikipedia: Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast)