Immediately after it was signed the Marcoussis agreement generated legal controversy, mainly with regard to two points, namely its constitutionality and its compulsory nature. A political agreement with an entrenched legal content, it stands as a milestone in negotiation on the crisis in C?te d'Ivoire, but it is not at all the end of the road. The post-crisis process of which it forms part remains of a kind that is becoming quite common in Africa. It prompts reflection on the nature and the role of law in politics.