War in Ivory Coast

The West African nation faces a serious crisis that may split it into two the Muslim-dominated north and the mostly Christian and animist south.

IVORY COAST has been in turmoil since September following an attempt by a section of the Army to overthrow the government led by President Laurent Gbagbo. It was initially reported that a few thousand soldiers had revolted to protest against the dismissal of some of their colleagues. But later events have shown that the West African nation was facing a serious crisis that might split the country into two, pitting the Muslim-dominated north against the mostly Christian and animist south.

The rebels have shown that they are not just a rag-tag army by seizing the city of Bouake and much of the north. On the other hand, the government forces suffered military setbacks while trying to dislodge the rebels from their strongholds. In fact, the rebels, who initially appeared leaderless, have turned out to be a disciplined lot. On the other hand, the government in Abidjan allowed its supporters to go on the rampage against people from the north and foreigners, who have made Ivory Coast their home for the past many decades.

These foreigners, an estimated three million, mainly from neighbouring countries such as Burkina Faso and Mali, played an important role in ushering in the economic boom that put Ivory Coast among the ranks of the prosperous countries in the region until the late 1980s. Hundreds of people, mainly from the north and those hailing from neighbouring countries, have been killed in the recent spurt of violence. Thousands more fled their homes before a ceasefire came into force in the third week of October.

The government was initially reluctant to talk to the rebels as it hoped to settle the problem by the use of force. President Gbagbo also thought that the French troops, who have a permanent military base in the country, would help him. Until recently, France tended to bail out authoritarian and corrupt rulers who were its close allies. Mobutu Sese Seko of Congo and Jean Bokassa of the Central African Republic, are prime examples.

But times have changed and France may have a soft corner for Allasane Outtara, the popular politician from the north, who has twice been denied a shot at Presidency on the flimsy grounds that he was not a "pure Ivorian". Outtara was forced to take refuge in the French embassy in Abidjan, after his house was attacked by a mob, following the failed military uprising. He narrowly escaped the fate of former President Robert Guei, who was shot a day after the coup attempt.

Guei had lost the last elections against the current President. Guei, the former head of the Ivorian Army, had briefly seized power in 1999 from President Henri Konan Bedie.

THE past couple of years have not been good for Ivory Coast. Until the mid-1990s the country enjoyed the reputation of being one of the most stable and prosperous countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Political instability became visible soon after the demise of Felix Houphet-Boigny, who ruled the country with an iron hand from the time of independence four decades ago. Boigny was for a long time the favourite of the West. It was said that the French virtually ran the country for him. Every ministry had a senior French official overseeing its functioning.

Boigny was an imperious man who did what he pleased. He once boasted to his countrymen on television that he had millions of dollars in Swiss banks, when his opponents criticised him for tolerating corruption. He built the world's biggest Cathedral in his birthplace, Yammasoukro, at immense cost to the exchequer. Ivory Coast is, even today, the world's largest producer of cocoa. The country is also the fifth biggest producer of coffee.

The commodity boom of the 1960s fuelled the economy triggering an influx of immigrants from its impoverished neighbourhood. Boigny encouraged the outsiders realising the importance of a cheap and hard working labour force. The dramatic fall in international commodity prices in the 1970s and the devaluation of the cfa franc, the country's currency, signalled the beginning of the economic crisis. By the mid-1990s, Ivory Coast had an external debt of $20 billion.

Henri Konan Bedie, Boigny's successor, obviously lacked his charisma and ability. It was under him that the marginalisation of the Muslim north gained momentum. Multi-party elections became a farce. People initially had even welcomed the military coup effected by General Guei in December 1999 but the General, after donning civilian clothes, turned out to be yet another despot determined to hang on to power at all costs. It was during Guei's term that the Army recruited a thousand extra soldiers. Gbagbo's sacking of these soldiers in October this year was one of the factors that precipitated the crisis.

By the end of the last decade it became obvious that Ivory Coast was in a state of political and economic free fall. The present incumbent, Gbagbo, has not helped matters by openly pandering to ethnic and religious chauvinism. The result is that Ivory Coast today is a deeply polarised society. As recent events have shown, the South seems to be solidly behind President Gbagbo while the north is with the rebels.

The rebels have denied the government's accusations that they were supported by foreign powers, notably by Burkina Faso. The government has also been alleging that the mutineers comprise French- and English-speaking fighters. Ivory Coast is a Francophone country and the government, through its propaganda, is suggesting that English-speaking mercenaries from neighbouring Sierra Leone and Liberia are participating in the fight against the government.

Until Gbagbo came on the scene, the government in Abidjan was actually quite friendly with Liberia and Burkina Faso. United Nations documents have established the complicity of the government in money laundering and diamond smuggling activities on behalf of Liberian President Charles Taylor, who was then a rebel leader, and the notorious Unita (National Union for the Total Independence of Angola) under the late Jonas Savimbi. Ivory Coast was believed to be behind the coup carried out by Blaise Campraore against Thomas Sankara in 1987. The radical Sankara was counted among the popular leaders of the continent for his uncompromising stand against the West.

But in recent years, Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso have fallen out, mainly as a result of the discrimination against people of Burkinabe descent. There were fears that the violence within Ivory Coast could lead to a wider war, with countries such as Burkina Faso being drawn into the conflict. West Africa is just recovering from the internecine conflicts that devastated Sierra Leone.

An economic and political meltdown in Ivory Coast, Africa's fourth strongest economy, could also have severe repercussions around the region. Millions of people in neighbouring countries are dependent on remittances from their relatives who work in Ivory Coast.

After weeks of negotiations, West African states grouped under ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) prevailed on both the sides to stop the shooting and start talking. ECOWAS announced in the last week of October that it was sending a 2000-strong force to monitor the ceasefire. The ECOWAS force will be bankrolled by Western countries such as the United States, Germany, Netherlands and France. Most of the ECOWAS troops will come from French-speaking Senegal. The other ECOWAS members will also contribute peacekeepers.

Talks between the government and the rebels have started in Lome, Togo. The rebels, who call themselves the Patriotic Movement of Ivory Coast, have demanded the resignation of Gbagbo and called for fair and free elections in which all Ivorians will be allowed to participate. The rebels, who now control more than half the country, have so far generally conducted themselves with discipline and dignity. This by itself is a welcome departure. Rebel forces in neighbouring Liberia and Sierra Leone were known for their pillaging and general indiscipline.

However, rebel spokesman Guillaume Soro said in early November that if their political demands were not met at the negotiating table, then they were "ready to resume the war". The rebels have rejected the government's demands that they disarm and have instead reiterated their demand for the removal of President Gbagbo.

A small beginning has been made after both sides agreed to release prisoners taken during the fighting that erupted in September. The government has also agreed to draft legislation that would grant amnesty for the soldiers involved in the uprising.