University opens in rebel north after three-year closure

More than three years after war forced it to shut down, the University of Bouake in the rebel-held north of Cote d'Ivoire officially reopened this week, giving new hope to a generation of youth missing out on schooling. Hundreds of hopeful students and dozens of lecturers attended the opening ceremony on Tuesday, which many hailed as a major step towards a return to normal in the north. Several members of the administrative staff had already returned earlier this month. "When we announced the date…for the formal reopening on 28 March, many people doubted whether that date would be respected. Today, they can be sure," said Higher Education Minister Cisse Bacongo, who hails from the main opposition party Rally of the Republicans (RDR). The RDR is considered sympathetic to the rebels. The university closed in September 2002 as rebels occupied the north after a failed bid to topple President Laurent Gbagbo. Before long, the university library was looted and books were sold for next to nothing in market stalls all over town. Previous plans to reopen the university, which in its heyday taught as many as 13,000 students, were delayed over security concerns and a bitter power struggle in the transitional government between the Higher Education Ministry and Education Minister Michel N'Guessan, a Gbagbo ally. Hundreds of students paid the enrolment fee in April 2005 but classes never started. Some lecturers refused to return to Bouake, the rebel capital, saying they feared for their safety. Most lecturers are expected to travel between Bouake and the university's provisional campus in the main city Abidjan. A total 1,100 students of an estimated 4,000 still living in the Bouake had already enrolled, Bacongo said. It was not immediately clear how many staff have returned. Last month in the north some of the 90,000 students blocked for more than two years from taking school tests were able to sit exams required for advancing their studies.