New District In Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast)

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A new district of the Church was created in Yamoussoukro, Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast). The Yamoussoukro Cote d'Ivoire District comprises four branches in the city and becomes the first district created outside of Abidjan, the largest city in the country. Yamoussoukro is located in the center of the Cote d'Ivoire and is also the official capital of the country. The population is estimated to be between 200 and 300 thousand and is the third largest city in Cote d'Ivoire.

As for the Church in the rest of Cote d'Ivoire, there are three stakes in the Abidjan area, which is on the coast in the south portion of the country. The first stake was organized in 1997. There are also mission branches in Divo and San Pedro. A couple mission branches used to exist in the second largest city of Bouaké (which is just north of Yamoussoukro) until the outbreak of the Ivorian Civil War in 2002 and as of this time I do not believe the Church has a presence in the city. Non-African missionaries were withdrawn from the country during the civil war and as of last year have returned (see this post for more information). The Ivory Coast Abidjan Mission also includes Togo and Benin as of last year.

As of the end of 2008, there were 13,200 members in the country.