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Cote d'Ivoire: a Nation On the Brink of Death

Vanguard (Lagos)
OPINION
December 4, 2004
Posted to the web December 6, 2004

By Chuks Ugwoke
Abidjan
FELIX Houphouet Boigny, the founding father of Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) and
its first president at independence at independence in 1960, made the above
statement in - expression of anger and disapproval with the rapid deterioration
of events and the avoidable carnage during the Nigeria/Biafra conflict. Five
days after this outburst by Boigny on his way from Paris, Cote d'Ivoire
formally announced her recognition of Biafra.
Today, Boigny will be appalled in his grave that just eleven years after his
death, his own country which he ruled for a record 33 years, is on the verge of
disintegration. He will, no doubt, be so "distressed" and "outragaed" at the
"prolongation of this atrocious war" between government troops and rebels that
exposes the former French colony as a nation bleeding to death.
Cote d'Ivoire, a country with a population of 16.5 million people of various
ethnic nationalities, was once the benchmark of the success story of western
democracy in Africa. It had maintained a stable polity nurtured by substantial
foreign investments. And thanks to its formative vision and highly mechanised
agriculture, Cote d'Ivoire ranks first among cocoa producers in the world and
third in coffee production. Thus, the country accounts for over forty per cent
of the economy of the entire Francophone West Africa.
Unfortunately, things fell apart rapidly for this country renowned for her
vibrant democratic structure after the death of Boigny on December 7, 1993. It
was so tragic that the military struck on the eve of Christmas in 1999 to sack
the legitimate government of Henri Konan Bedie, Boigny's successor. That
brought Gen. Robert Guei to power and marked the beginning of the dark days.
Steadily, ethnic and religious intolerance began to creep in as trust and
harmonious cohabitation took flight. Attempts to return the country to true
democracy via the 2000 elections merely widened the gulf and deepened the
ethnic tension. As a result, many parties boycotted the polls.
In the heat of the trouble, Guei proclaimed himself winner of the presidential
election. Such wry "victory" was shortlived. He soon fled from the country
following the mass protests that trailed the electoral irregularities. In his
place, a former university history teacher and pro-democracy campaigner,
Laurent Gbagbo, believed to have won the 2000 elections, was installed
president of the Ivorien Republic.
Genesis of the crisis
Just as Ivoriens battled to pick their pieces together and forge ahead as a
united country once more, some 150 soldiers staged another coup on September
19, 2002 to oust Gbagbo. And when the putsch failed, its initiators turned it
into a full-scale rebellion.
Led by the Movement Patriotique Du Cote d'Ivoire, MPCI (Patriotic Movement of
Cote d'Ivoire), the rebels seized the Northern city of Bouake that is dominated
by muslims. They took over the armoury and launched several attacks, without
success, to capture Abidjan, the capital city and overthrow Gbagbo.
Of course, there were civilian casualties and soldiers expectedly. In a
twinkle, multinational firms began to relocate to neighbouring countries. Other
businesses closed shop.
It was at this point that the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS
intervened. President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal as the then ECOWAS chairman,
quickly convened an emergency meeting of Heads of State from the sub-region to
end the deaths and seek political and diplomatic solutions. In solidarity,
South African President Thabo Mbeki joined Presidents Wade, John Kufuor
(Ghana), Olusegun Obasanjo and others to try and fashion out an amicable
settlement of the crisis.
At another meeting in Dakar, Senegal in December 2002, the Heads of State
formalised the establishment of an ECOWAS peacekeeping force for Cote d'Ivoire
and then appointed Nigeria's Ambassador Raph Uwechue, a conflict-resolution
expert as the special representative of the body's executive secretary, Ibn
Chambas. By this appointment, Uwechue was mandated to co-ordinate the sub-
region's peace-keeping operations under ECOMICI (ECOWAS Mission in Cote
d'Ivoire) with a charge to monitor the cessation of hostilties, facilitate the
free movement of persons, goods and services, and participate in the process of
disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration. More importantly, there was a
cease-fire agreement from both sides.
But following the adoption of the UN Security Council Resolution 1464 of
February 4, 2003 which approved the deployment of ECOWAS and French
peacekeeping forces in the troubled country, a total of 1,369 troops drawn from
Ghana, Benin, Togo, Senegal and Niger was deployed to take positions in
strategic places.
Linas-Marcoussis, Accra accords
French President, Jacque Chirac invited representatives of ten Ivorien
political parties and the three armed groups to a roundtable at Linas-
Marcoussis, France from January 15-23, 2003 to review the situation in the
African country.
At the end, the conference recommended, among other things, for the composition
of a Government of National Reconciliation that will be headed by a consensus
Prime Minister, and to be made up of nominees from the contending political
and/or concerned groups. This government, when formed, would be responsible for
rebuilding the national army, ensure disarmament and amnesty for military
personnel held on charges of mutiny.
Another conference was held in Accra from March 6-7, 2003. It reaffirmed its
commitment to the implementation of the Linas-Marcoussis agreement and pledged
to co-operate with President Gbagbo and the new Prime Minister, Seydou Diarra
to foster lasting peace.
However, the two major opposition groups in Rassamblement Des Republicain, RDR
led by Alassane Quattara and the New Forces (rebels) of Soro Guillaume
boycotted the talks. The latter expressed resevrvations that the time was not
ripe enough for his group to participate in the unity government, citing
security of his ministers as part of his fears.
Alongside other diplomatic moves, Uwechue employing his persuasive power as
former ambassador of Nigeria and later Biafra (opened the former"s office in
Paris and was Biafra"s first envoy there too), was able to convince rebels and
the RDR to come on board. On April 3, 2003, Presidents Obasanjo, Kufuor and
Gnassingbe Eyadema were on hand to witness the inaugural session that was
attended by even the leadership of the New Forces.
Ironically, parties in today's conflict see the Linas-Marcoussis meeting as
either the turning point or the source of the sore.
President Gbagbo was unambiguous, Wednesday night in a chat with select
Nigerian journalists who were in Abidjan to talk with the different people
concerned with the crisis, that the conference in France was unnecessary and
had its hidden agenda against his government.
"If West African states had brought in their army to help the Ivorien army
since they have what it takes to get rid of them, we would not be talking of
rebels today," said Gbagbo at the presidential lodge. "But you know that we, as
Africans, unfortunately, are always waiting for European nations to give orders
first. This is why we are where we are.
"The Linas-Marcoussis accord is inadequate, it is inappropriate. It is
dangerous not only for Cote d'Ivoire but for Africa as a whole. I'm writing a
book on Linas-Marcoussis, but what I want to say to you as Africans is that it
is immoral to require me to sit down with rebels who killed a federal minister
to negotiate and share cabinet positions.
"This is not for Cote d'Ivoire alone. The danger for Africa is that if anyone
wants to become a minister in any country, he should go round and be killing
his people because at the end, he would be called to be a minister.
"But since I was between the devil and the deep blue sea, I had to accept not
only to meet (with the rebels) but to implement the recommendations of the
accord. Those who told you that we've not been implementing the agreement were
not telling the whole truth.
"All the bills from Marcoussis have been discussed as proposed. On the 7th on
December, 2004, these bills will be tabled before the National Assembly. We
have done our part of the bargain. But what have the rebels done? Not one
thing!"
Visiting the rebel enclave in Bouake, as The Sun's Louis Odion told me (I
arrived after the visit to this Northern city) was like walking into a
minefield with all the attendant risks. Inside the forest littered with some
disused weaponry and on the streets, the obviously frightened journalists would
come face-to-face with the gun-wielding youths, mostly wearing faded slippers,
with their fingers dangerously caressing the triggers. With their eyes focused
on the "intruders" as if to pierce through and reveal their feelings of pity
and fear, these rebel soldiers looked intolerably agitated by the presence of
their uninvited guests, the four battle-ready armoured tanks of the UN Forces
guiding the newsmen notwithstanding. They were simply religiously devoted to
the task at hand. For them, the choices are slim: bring Gbagbo's government to
an abrupt end and tame the rest of the nation to unquestioned loyalty.
Col. Bakayoko Sunmaila, the Chief of Defence Staff of the New Forces (rebels)
sees the exit of President Laurent Gbagbo as the surest and quickest way to
peace in Ivory Coast.
"He (Gbagbo) should go because he does not honour any agreement. He doesn't
want to respect the Linas-Marcoussis pact. Yet, he's asking us to disarm. He's
more interested in being the president of a side of a country. We won't disarm
until he (the president) settles all the political sides, (apparently referring
to citizenship clause and qualification to contest the presidency). "He should
go because what our country needs now is someone who will respect agreements."
Disarmament, November attacks & French retaliation
The Marcoussis accord stipulated among other things that the rebels would have
disarmed or seen to be disarming by October 15, 2004. The expected exercise did
not commence because the rebels raised many questions and wanted certain
conditions fulfilled. But Gbagbo says he would not take further excesses of
this power-drunk rebellion.
"There was an agreement to disarm," the president said. "We have the French
Army Base in Abidjan, we also have the UN Forces.
When I asked them to disarm (the rebels after the expiration of the deadline),
they said they can't. I decided to disarm them on November 4, 2004. For two
days, we carried out the exercises to disarm them. I launched the strike to end
the rebellion and unite our country once more.
"On November 6, the French said we hit their base in Bouake and that nine
soldiers were killed. That's sad and unfortunate. But if it was so, it was an
error which we could sort out. But what happened was that France bombarded all
our planes. You've been there and you saw it (extent of damage); they went to
the presidential lounge in Yamoussoukro and destroyed all our planes on ground.
They (French) flew back to Abidjan to destroy all our fighter jets on the
ground also," continued Gbagbo.
"Naturally, there was an uprising from our people to condemn and protest
against these barbaric acts which were unjustified. That was when the french
troops attacked and killed unarmed civilians. Is that fair?"
Prime Minister Diarra, himself a Northerner, feels that the attack on Bouake by
government troops was not fair either. If anything, it incensed ethnic
resistance, violated cease-fire agreement and diminished whatever confidence of
oneness that hitherto existed.
"We have less than 12 months to another election in October 2005," said the 71-
year-old Diarra. "The attack on Buake was the worst illustration that there"s
no confidence whatsoever. These attacks were condemned by the UN, African
Union, ECOWAS. This is the problem we are having today... How do you bring back
confidence when the Government of National Unity meets every week and
government is attacking one part where some members come from? It was not the
unity government that ordered the attack and that's the confidence crisis we're
going through today."
Col. Bakayoko insisted that the government cannot find any justification for
its attack on the rebel position. In similar fashion, Lt. Col. Francois Xavier
Chritien, the liaison officer between the French and UN troops, equally
questioned the Ivorien government's attempt at brutal suppression of its
opponents, and the consequent violation of the cease-fire agreement.
Also, he faults government's claim that the attack on the French Army Base in
Bouake that left nine French soldiers and one civilian US citizen dead was an
error. "It can't be a mistake. There was a French flag there; rebels were not
there... We've cleared the rubble and the wounded have been flown back to
France for treatment."
Incidentally, many Ivoriens now see the French peace-keeping notion as a farce
and a travesty. They accuse their former colonial masters of empowering the
rebels in many ways in a bid to topple the incumbent regime.
It is freely argued in the country now that the reforms by Gbagbo is being
perceived by a panicky overlord as an attempt to relax the latter's control and
dominance in banking, transport, energy policies and cocoa trading among
others.
"I am, today, proclaiming my indignation in the face of the inexplicable
indifference, the culpable indifference of the whole world towards the
massacres that have taken place in Biafra for more than ten months. I am
returning to my country distressed, outraged, upset and revolting against the
prolongation of this atrocious war... (The crisis) is a human problem and a
human solution must be found to it. Considerations of peace should take
precedence over everything else. If our brothers involved in this conflict
cannot live together in a Federation, then let them accept to live in peace as
neighbours" (Courtesy, Reflections on the Nigerian Civil War, by Raph Uwechie).

   

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