There are over 100,000 Arab cultural residents inIvory Coast as of 2009. Most are either former expatriates or current shopkeepers' families who are descended from immigrants of Middle Eastern and North African origin.
In 2004, theYoung Patriots of Abidjan, a stronglynationalist organisation, rallied by the State media, plundered possessions of foreign nationals inAbidjan. Calls for violence against whites and non-Ivorians were broadcast on national radio and TV after the Young Patriots seized control of its offices. Rapes, beatings, and murders of white expatriates and localLebanese followed. Thousands of expatriates and ethnic Lebanese fled. The attacks drew international condemnation.[1][2]