Africana Plus
No55 March 2003.3
Ivory Coast
The Ideology of Fraternity
Now we have
another country torn apart by internal conflicts. More
fratricide, a country in pieces, efforts to try and put the
pieces together, to check the geographical, ethnic and religious
unrest exploited by selfish nationalists. No doubt, political
leaders seek try to explain their disagreements by appealing to
reasons of one kind or another. Very often however their only
real interest is to provoke discord in order to satisfy
their own lust for power and possessions.
The Bishops of the
Ivory Coast denounced the collapse of morality in their
country which, especially in the north, has been in a state of
civil war since last September. "In the eyes of the people
of this country, the virtues of honesty, integrity and justice
have come to look like characteristics of a bygone age...Money is
the only standard for judging the human person. That is the
source of all our woes, and it leads inevitably to the
destruction of our republican institutions like the army and
political parties. People join a political party, not for the
sake of an ideal or a program, but simply out of personal
economic interest." Faced with civil war, the Bishops urge
the people to foster a genuine love for themselves and their
country. "We must learn to love each other and stop fighting
each other. We must stop sticking labels on people, calling them
southerners or northerners, easterners or westerners. Loving
one's own country means having a common ideal, always putting the
interests of the country before our own personal and selfish
interests."
There are fifteen
million people in the Ivory Coast. The average annual income is
800 dollars, or about two dollars per day. The country's wealth
comes from cocoa, of which it is the world's largest producer.
There are hundreds of thousands of small cocoa growers, but they
are all subject to the fluctuations of an international market in
which they have absolutely no voice. In these conditions, it is
not surprising that internal conflicts develop.
Ivory Coast is a
big country, some 125,000 square miles in area. There are five
major tribal groups, with about forty sub-groups.
Since the death of
President Félix Houphouët-Boigny in 1993, different political
leaders have sought to strengthen their power by dividing and
subdividing the country, according to the classical formula,
"Divide and rule". Henri Konan Bédié, the predecessor
of the actual President, Laurent Ggagbo, introduced the concept
of "Ivoriness", which he defended as "a new step
forward which will strengthen our identity. This identity resides
above all in our republican institutions, summarized in our
national motto of discipline and work, but including also peace,
the struggle against national and international injustices, the
equality of men and women, the essentially lay character of
schools and the state, the rejection of all fanaticism and
intolerance. These are the values which must fashion our national
unity and bestow a universal character on our Ivorian citizenship."
In this ideology, "Ivoriness" becomes an
affirmation of the cultural, sociological and political identity
of the peoples of the Ivory Coast. Its apologists deny that it
has any overtones of xenophobia or racism and maintain that it in
no way contains the seeds of exclusion.
The party opposed
to the present government however is of another opinion. One-third
of the resident population comes from the neighboring countries
of the Sahel, and it was Houphouët-Boigny's successor, Konan Bédié,
who introduced the distinction between "indigenous" and
"foreign" residents. The real problems of access to
nationality and to land ownership, say the government opponents,
have never been faced. For the political class in Abidjan, "Ivoriness"
is no more than a policy of exclusion, a battle for power in
which the principal weapon is the tribalisation of political and
social divisions. Political difference has become a war of chiefs.
Who then are the
principal protagonists in this struggle? There is of course the
actual President, Laurent Gbagbo, of the Ivorian Popular Front,
which controls the south of the country. Then there are the
chiefs of other political parties, such as Alassane Dramane
Ouattara, of the Republican Assembly, and Francis Wodié, of the
Workers' Party. There are also the chiefs of the armed rebels,
like the Patriotic Movement, dominated by Muslims from the north,
the Popular Movement of the West and the Movement for Justice and
Peace, which group the rebels of the west. The latter two parties
claim to be followers of General Robert Gueï who was killed
during the failed coup d'état of 19 September which marked the
start of the current crisis. While the north is largely dominated
by movements backed by Burkina Faso and Blaise Compaore, the
north-west is more under the influence of Charles Taylor's
Liberia, which casts jealous eyes on the cocoa plantations on its
borders. It was to these political chiefs that the Bishops of
CERAO, the Regional Episcopal
Conference of West
Africa, addressed themselves on 9 February. "We address an
urgent appeal to the leaders of political parties. We urge them
to give a chance to dialogue by speaking to their militants and
disarming their fighters and sinister death squads. Political
leaders must have the humility to recognize their responsibility
for the evil consequences of their personal ambitions and
interests which damage the common good of the nation."
How can all these
factions come together to unite the country? On 24 January an
effort was made to bring them together at Marcoussis, some twenty
miles from Paris, and to hammer out an agreement in principle.
The participants spoke of the future of democracy, of relations
with neighboring countries, of the Constitution, of the reform of
the nationality and land ownership laws, "the rights of
blood and the rights of the soil". The Republican Party
insisted on "the rights of the soil", by which it meant
that all those born in the Ivory Coast had rights of citizenship.
The governing party on the other hand, the FPI, pointed out that
it was Ouattara himself, now leader of the Republican Party, who
had introduced residence permits when he was Houphouët's prime
minister and so undermined the principle of "rights of the
soil". It is clearly very difficult to reconcile these
entrenched position by simple debate and without recourse to the
use of force.
After the peace
accords were signed in Marcoussis, tens of thousands of Gbagbo's
supporters mounted a violent protest in Abidjan against what they
considered a humiliation for the President. In particular they
objected to giving the key posts of Minister of Defence and Home
Affairs to the rebels. The President himself nevertheless
declared himself satisfied that reconciliation had been achieved
in Marcoussis. "Coming out of a war is not like leaving a
gala dinner. I have not won the war, and lessons have to be drawn."
After thanking France for its help, he went on to say that a
crisis which had lasted for four months was bound to be expensive.
There had therefore to be concessions by all parties, and, said
he, "I have made concessions."
The chiefs' war
meanwhile goes on. All these chiefs have monstrous egos. "I
have not won the war," says Gbagbo, "and so I must
negotiate." The implication is that one wages war first and
then, if one is not successful, one negotiates. No doubt
negotiation has always been the poor relation in the solution of
conflicts. It has been seen as weakness and cowardice. All except
war is dishonorable. It is a strange way of approaching the
problem of peace. Whatever Laurent Gbabgo may say, his logic is
not the logic of peace but of war. People were waiting for the
President to address the nation, but he only spoke to his
supporters, saying that all that was done at Marcoussis was to
draw up proposals. "I am still waiting to see what happens,"
he said.
The Bishops of
CERAO on the contrary insist that peace must be given a chance.
The Marcoussis agreements must be taken seriously. "Certainly
they are not perfect, they involve difficulties. Nevertheless
they manifest the courage and the good will of the participants
and of the representatives of the people to make the necessary
sacrifices for peace. They point the way to the peace which is so
earnestly desired by everyone. They lay the foundations for a
future of fraternal co-existence... We demand that the armed
forces and what are called the 'rebel' organizations adhere fully
to the peace plan accepted by all the leading players in this
drama and supported by the international communities and by
all persons of good will. Only thus can be safeguarded that peace
which is so indispensable and so longed for by all the people of
the Ivory Coast."
Gambari Yaya, of
the magazine Jeune Afrique, and an opponent of the ideology of
"Ivoriness", wrote this to President Gbagbo: "I
invite President Gbagbo, if he wants to go down in history and
save the Ivory Coast people of tomorrow, to swallow his personal
pride and ignore the reactions of some of his militant followers,
and recognize that this whole concept of "Ivoriness" is
the principal cause of all the miseries which the country is
enduring. It is up to this President to repair all the errors
which have been committed by political leaders since Houphouët.
He should use the national Ministry of Education to draw up a
program of civic instruction, at both elementary and secondary
levels, with this theme: Ivory Coast is a country which is home
to different tribes and religions. No one chooses his tribal
identity, and none is superior to any other. Our African brothers
who live on our soil are an asset, for they contribute to the
development of our country. If young pupils can absorb this
'ideology of fraternity' both in schools and at home, I can dare
to hope that the nation of the Ivory Coast will be tomorrow both
stronger and more united."
According to
Archbishop Bernard Agré of Abidjan, the war has brought out the
opposition between the tribes of the north and the south, but it
is not a religious conflict. The Cardinal is very anxious to
prevent the clashes from taking on a religious color as if they
constituted a war of religion. It was in the same spirit that a
meeting for peace was organized recently by the religious
communities of the Ivory Coast. "A great peace-signal
emerged from the inter-religious prayer meeting in which
thousands of people took part, including the head of state and a
number of ministers," declared a local source contacted by
the Fides Agency in Ivory Coast. The final ceremony was the
conclusion of three days of prayer organized by the fifteen
religious communities present in the country, including
Christians, Muslims and Traditional Religionists. All the
religions made it abundantly clear that they wished to avoid the
snare of religious conflict and that they wanted peace. The war
has political and economic causes which have in principle nothing
to do with religious differences.
Pope John-Paul II
also issued an appeal for national reconciliation in Ivory Coast.
The crisis which broke out in September has been exacerbated by
the recent manifestations organized against the Marcoussis
accords. "Once again our thoughts turn towards the Ivory
Coast, in the midst of a serious crisis which is tearing these
populations apart. Let us pray that the efforts of all those who
are anxious for the unity of the country and for respect for law
will gain the upper hand over every spirit of divisions and
revenge. May faithful Catholics in particular, guided by their
pastors, do everything possible to ensure that dialogue and
respect for persons and property be promoted and put into
practice by all."
Forty years ago
Pope John XXIII wrote in his Encyclical Pacem in Terris: "Political
meetings at both the national and international levels will only
advance the cause of peace if the commitments taken in
common are respected by all sides. Otherwise these meetings are
in danger of becoming useless and insignificant events and people
will come less and less to believe in dialogue and will instead
seek to resolve their differences by force. The failure to
observe commitments is bound to have negative repercussions on
any peace process, and this reflection should lead the heads of
governments and states to weigh each of their decisions most
carefully." When there is a Conclave in the Vatican to elect
a new Pope, white smoke signifies that the election has been
successfully concluded. We can only pray that the white smoke of
peace will finally issue from the conclaves in the Ivory Coast.
Michel
Fortin
(15
February 2003)