Following independence, the new African elite saw kings and chiefs as throwbacks to a bygone era. To this generation, chieftainship was both a part and an instrument of the despised colonial administration, and represented no more than a caricature of what this royal class was like prior to colonization. Since the 1980s, there has been a change in the way kings and chiefs are perceived, however. Anthropologists and historians are now studying the unexpected phenomena of reviving royalties and chiefdoms, in a new context and taking new forms. This paper illustrates the issue by examining the role of traditional leaders in the southeast of C?te d'Ivoire in the mediation of the current crisis in the country.