Turmoil in Ivory Coast

A French soldier belonging to the U.N. peacekeeping force guards the de Gaulle bridge in Abidjan, the capital, after supporters of President Laurent Gbagbo unleash violence against French and other foreign nationals. - ISSOUF SANOGO/AFP

The country is on the verge of a civil war as an Air Force attack on a base of the French peacekeeping force breaks the 18-month-old ceasefire between government forces and rebels.

EVEN as the attention of the international community was focussed on Sudan, there was a sudden surge of violence in Ivory Coast in the first week of November. The developments in this important West African nation have the potential to threaten the stability of the region.

On November 4, the Ivory Coast Air Force, for reasons that are still inexplicable, chose to attack a base occupied by French peacekeepers working under the United Nations flag. The attack, which effectively broke the 18-month-old ceasefire between government forces and rebels, killed nine French soldiers and one American aid worker. The French, who have been keeping the peace for the past two years, immediately retaliated by bombing into extinction the Ivorian Air Force, which consisted of two Sukhoi-25 jets and a few helicopters. The French also captured the airport in the capital, Abidjan.

This provoked the loyalists of President Laurent Gbagbo to go on the rampage in the capital and in the southern parts of the country, which are controlled by the government. The President's angry reaction to the French act of reprisal did not help matters. The mercurial Gbagbo did not bother to restrain his supporters, mainly belonging to a group called Young Patriots, which started targeting French and foreign interests. There was widespread destruction of property in the capital, which was once hyped as the most beautiful and cosmopolitan city in sub-Saharan Africa. The French community was specifically targeted. The majority of foreigners fled, leaving their houses and businesses behind. The French and other foreign peacekeepers managed to evacuate most of the foreigners to safety. However, there are credible reports that many foreigners, especially women, were physically abused by young goons owing allegiance to Gbagbo.

Ivory Coast, after independence in 1960, was among the few countries that welcomed the French with open arms. Under the long Presidency of Houphet Boigny, the French virtually ran the country. Every key Ministry had a senior French adviser. The Ivorian economy was considered the engine that drove the rest of West Africa. The cocoa and coffee boom, which lasted until the 1980s, saw the country register high growth rates in almost all sectors. Ivory Coast became a magnet for people from neighbouring states such as Burkina Faso, Mali, Guinea and Liberia. There were plenty of job opportunities in the cocoa plantations and in the industrial sector. Until the late 1990s, Ivory Coast used to attract the largest amount of foreign investments in the West African region. The country supplies 40 per cent of the world's cocoa.

The recent events have affected the supply of cocoa to the international market. Many factories that process cocoa from Ivory Coast stopped production. The upheaval in Ivory Coast has come at a time when the demand for chocolate is at its peak, with the festive season just round the corner. The departure of more than 7,000 French expatriates in the wake of the trouble will not help matters. The production and transportation of cocoa is in the hands of the French. To further complicate matters, many of the workers are from the rebellious north and neighbouring countries such as Burkina Faso.

The political situation started unravelling in Ivory Coast after the military coup of 1999. A bloody counter-coup followed by a flawed election, which saw the installation of Gbagbo in the presidency, exacerbated the ethnic and caste conflict. People from neighbouring countries, who were resident in Ivory Coast before the country's independence, came to be targeted. One of the most popular Ivorian politicians, Allassane Outtara, has been denied the opportunity to contest the presidency on the specious grounds that one of his parents was born in Burkina Faso. In actual fact, it was his grandmother who was born in Burkina Faso. A former Ivory Coast President, Henri Konan-Bedie, had changed the Constitution to bar "foreigners" from holding high offices. Some other African countries such as Zambia had done the same thing earlier, in order to bar popular politicians from taking part in elections.

Gbagbo, who was a leading Opposition figure during the time of Houphet Boigny, began behaving like any other authoritarian leader of the region once he took office four years ago. His policies, which excluded the mainly Muslim northerners and many major ethnic groups from the corridors of power, were seen by many people as divisive. He has been propagating the ideology of "pure Ivorianism". The popular Ivorian singer Alpha Blondie described this kind of politics as "Black Nazism".

The U.N. has voiced distress over reports of xenophobic speeches made in Ivory Coast. In the middle of November, the U.N. adviser on the prevention of genocide said that the situation in Ivory Coast could be referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC). U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan himself warned that the messages of hate emanating from Ivory Coast could lead to the "devastating resurgence of ethnic conflict". More than 10,000 Ivorians have fled to neighbouring countries, the majority of them to Liberia. Ironically, Ivory Coast was host to refugees from Liberia until recently. There was a fond hope that the era of civil wars was finally over in West Africa after the fighting in Liberia and Sierra Leone ended.

After the latest round of bloodletting, the U.N. has imposed sanctions on the country. There is no end in sight to the fighting. Gbagbo adamantly insists that the rebels who control much of the country should first disarm before peace talks can restart. The Opposition has little faith in the words of Gbagbo and wants his immediate removal in the wake of the recent events. They remember that he had agreed to share power in a deal brokered by Paris but reneged on it as soon as he returned home.

The U.N. mission in the country (ONUCI) has around 6,000 peacekeepers. The bulk of this force is comprised of French troops. Their declared mission is to prop up the transitional government and help build a peaceful environment that is necessary for the elections proposed to be held in 2005. The prospects for a peaceful election are now diminishing by the day. The arms embargo imposed by the U.N. is likely to be ineffective. The region is awash with light arms, mainly leftovers from the civil wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone. According to reports from the region, mercenaries and child soldiers are being readied for another fratricidal war in West Africa.

Though now there is no love lost between the French government and Laurent Gbagbo, Paris has denied reports that it is preparing to oust the Ivorian President. Instead, at least for the time being, Paris seems to have come to the conclusion that the job of brokering peace is better left to African organisations such as the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the African Union (A.U.). After the events in early November, both these influential organisations have already thrown their weight behind the U.N. proposals. This is significant because African leaders are now willing to support the prosecution of Gbagbo in the ICC if he continues with his intransigent posture. Earlier in the year, there was a massacre of more than 120 people belonging to a particular religion and ethnic group in Abidjan. It is widely suspected that the Young Patriots were involved in this.

Recent reports in the French media say that Israeli arms dealers are getting involved in the internecine war. Israel has had a tradition of meddling in the affairs of many African countries, especially in states run by authoritarian figures. France's TF-1 television station reported in the second week of November that "Israeli mercenaries assisting the Ivory Coast Army operated unmanned aircraft that aided the aerial bombing of the French base in the country on November 9". Le Monde has reported that a group of 46 Israeli advisers are running an electronic surveillance centre for the Ivory Coast Army. Israel has said that it is unaware of the presence of Israelis engaged in such activities in Ivory Coast. French troops had seized an Israeli-made drone (unmanned surveillance aircraft) in the country in early November. In the second week of November, the Israeli Defence Ministry gave an assurance that it would stop selling arms to the nation which was on the verge of a full-scale civil war.