INTRODUCTION
Let me confess, last week my heart was in Ajdabiya, not Abidjan--though I’d read about the escalating situation in Cote d’Ivoire.
With a potential humanitarian disaster imminent Libya it was not surprising that the world’s eyes and ears were turned towards Ajdabiya and Benghazi. People worldwide agonized over the plight of the Libyan rebels–to such an unprecedented extent that even the Arab Union agreed to a no-fly zone under a UN mandate. When the Security Council voted on the authorizing resolution, both China and Russia decided to abstain instead of exercising their veto power. At the same time the triple-whammy disaster in Japan, deservedly, was absorbing a great deal of news reporting resources–and the time and attention of news consumers.
This week the turmoil in the Arab world--protests in Jordan, spreading violence in Syria and a near meltdown in Yemen–filled the online columns of breaking news. On March 24th, at a summit in Nigeria, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) agreed to ask the UN Security Council to increase the powers of its mission in Cote d’Ivoire, giving it the ability "to protect life and property and and to facilitate the immediate transfer of power to Alassane Ouattara" (1). ECOWAS and the UN agree that Ouattara won the election held on November 28th, 2010. The ECOWAS request was reported by the BBC News (including a segment on its TV news program).
Aaron Bady, in a somewhat rambling post on Zunguzungu, pivots around the question of WHY global media outlets have not spilled much ink--nor provided many bytes--to inform us about the power struggle in Cote d’Ivoire (2). His answer points to the images and cliches attached to a region where, in fact, conflicts have dominated US news coverage since the 1990s.
As an Africanist, I don’t feel guilty about my decision to delay writing about Cote d’Ivoire. Libya, after all is an AFRICAN country too. As an East Africanist, and by extension a Northeast Africanist (Sudan and the countries of the Horn of Africa) I am naturally drawn to current events in Egypt, whose penetration of Sudan in the early 19th century brought the Nile and Red Sea trade in ivory and slaves as far south, by the 1860s, as northern and western Uganda. Also, my special field is precolonial history and I’ve focused on former British colonies (plus Rwanda, a major kingdom in the Great Lakes region of eastern Africa).
Nevertheless, I do want to turn your attention towards a potential humanitarian and political catastrophe in WEST Africa, centered on unfolding events in Cote d’Ivoire, also known as Ivory Coast (3).
In Abidjan, the country’s sprawling urban capital, more than four million people are at risk–though many have fled to the north and west (as many as 700,000 by March 25th). According to the UNHCR (UN High Commission for Refugees) those endangered but unable to leave the city, seeking refuge in churches and schools or staying with friends may be as high as 80,000. The International Organization for Migration has been evacuating Mauritanians from Abidjan but running into a shortage of buses for transport. Civilians have been heading for the western border with Liberia since mid-March. Others are trying to leave via Ghana. In addition there are more than 300,000 internally displaced people, including some now stranded in a western town with almost no access to shelter, food, water, or medical aid (4).
The conflict in this once prosperous country is a tale of two political contenders: President-elect Alassane Ouattara vs. former President Laurent Gbagbo. Both have been operating from Abidjan although the political capital is officially at Yamoussoukro in the interior. Gbabgo, who has refused to step down, has considerable support within the country, particularly in the south. He forced Ouattara to take refuge in an Abidjan hotel, setting the stage for a stalemate, protests, conflict in Abidjan and elsewhere (for example, attacks on Muslims in rural areas), and perhaps a revived civil war. During the past couple of weeks, as both sides mobilize their troops, young men are joining them and, like their Libyan counterparts, receiving a rough-and-ready sort of minimal military training (5).
I agree with Bady that, in this case (as in so many stories in the news) we need what only history can provide–a path taking us back through a series of antecedent situations. I could make a good case for taking you back to the days of Samori Toure and the Toucouleur Empire (or back even further to the era of Sundjata and the Mali Empire), for northern Cote d’Ivoire is part of the Sahel region and shares borders with Mali and Burkina Faso.
When it comes to Cote d’Ivoire I am not an expert. Furthermore, what I do know about West African politics and recent history is geared much more towards Nigeria, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. Yet, if the problem for many American readers of, for example, the New York Times, is the lack of "a contextual framework which would allow us to understand what is happening in Cote d’Ivoire," then I’m willing to offer what I can, beginning with a summary of recent events and some current resources.
Recent Events
Ironically, Cote d’Ivoire is a country sliding towards civil war after an election meant to repair the breach of a civil war in 2002 that ended in a ceasefire that effectively divided the country into two sectors. Negotiations ensued until, eventually it was agreed that when President Gbagbo’s term expired in 2005, he would set a date for a presidential election. But Gbagbo managed to keep pushing the date forward–until late in 2010. What was the excuse for the delay? It took all those years to devise a way of sorting the ‘real’ Ivorians from the country’s many resident immigrants. In the meantime a UN peacekeeping force of 9,000 was charged with overseeing an uneasy peace. The former rebels still controlled the north while President Gbagbo’s troops dominated the south (6).
In the November 28th runoff election Alassane Outtara defeated the incumbent, President Laurent Gbagbo. According to the UN, the African Union, and ECOWAS the election met widely accepted standards of fairness. But Gbabgo had friends on the Constitutional Council, who were only too willing to throw out more than 660,000 fo the votes cast in northern and central districts, where Ouattara was the preferred candidate (7). That made it possible for Gbagbo declare himself the winner despite the fact that global public opinion considered him the loser. President-elect Ouattara, a technocrat, is superbly qualified to rescue the country’s collapsing economy. He has a doctorate in economics from the University of Pennsylvania and years of experience working for the IMF (International Monetary Fund), where he rose to the post of deputy director. He also had served as prime minister from 1990 to 1993 (8).
Former President Gbagbo has refused to step down--despite the damage being done to the economy, the social fabric, and hopes for a more democratic political system in the future. Like some other African autocrats (a prime example being Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe), he is determined to preserve his power and that of his party whatever the cost (9). In the words of Pierre Schori, a Swedish diplomat, "In Africa, when you are president, you have everything, and when you’re not, you have nothing" (10). To be fair, this is a somewhat overstated appraisal of what constitutes a political economy in Africa, yet leaders like Gbagbo and their cronies believe it is necessarily the case.
It might seem that no one was watching the stew (the situation) in Abidjan, where the Ouattara, the winner, was confined to the Gulf Hotel while Gabagbo, the loser, pontificated from the presidential palace–about how France, the United States, and the United Nations were the source of all his problems. Actually, ECOWAS, the African Union and even South Africa tried various tactics to dislodge Gbagbo, becoming more and more impatient with the stalemate in Abidjan. As the death toll of post-election violence was closing in on 200, West African leaders agreed to use "legitimate force" to remove Gbagbo if he would not step down (11). But how would they pull off such an intervention?
International economic sanctions were imposed by the European Union and the United States, freezing government assets and prohibiting business with any state institution or port controlled by the regime. These sanctions greatly reduced the flow of customs duties, a major source of revenue in an export-driven economy. By late January they were beginning to bite, but not enough to chase Gbabgo out the door. Provoked by Gbagbo’s intransigence, West African leaders decied to cut off his government’s access to the regional bank. As a result Gbagbo seized its local branches, but was dealt a counterpunch when foreign banks closed their doors so that it became difficult for the regime to pay its civil servants and soldiers (12).
This put Gbagbo in a fiscal corner so he decided to tap the country’s wealth by taking over the cocoa industry. He knew that if could sell the beans already in warehouses, worth about $1.5 billion, he would have plenty of cash. From Ouattara’s point of view this was an act of thievery. For decades, beginning in the colonial period, Cote d’Ivoire has been a major exporter of cocoa and it is still the world’s top producer. But sanctions now include a ban on cocoa exports, a severe blow to the economy (13).
In February, after Mubarak stepped down in Egypt, Alassane Outtara called for similar mass protests. Hundreds gathered, resulting in clashes with Gbago’s security forces, in and around Abidjan. In early March the "pot de violence" bubbled over in Adobo. This suburb was a stronghold of Ouattara’s supporters, many of them Muslim migrants from northern Cote d’Ivoire or from neighbors such as Mali and Burkina Faso. In the forefront of the mostly peaceful demonstrations were the urban market women, whose livelihoods and families were in danger. The situation escalated when Gbagbo’s forces attacked, using tear gas and live ammunition to disperse the demonstrators. On March 3rd seven women were the victims of machine-gun fire. On March 8th four more were shot while protesting the brutality and deaths of March 3rd. Human Rights Watch and the UN have called for the investigation of what would appear to be crimes against humanity. Post-election violence has now claimed nearly 500 lives (14).
ACTIVITIES
READ: Select news articles to learn the basics about the situation in Cote d’Ivoire. Those in the Christian Science Monitor, concise and clearly presented (probably the best to use with Middle School students).
FRENCH CLASS: As a substitute teacher, when I landed in a French class, I was always pleased to browse through textbooks that included dialogs in settings across the francophone world. So perhaps your students have been introduced to Abidjan. Here’s an opportunity to bring current events into the mix.
- LISTEN to President-elect Alassane Ouattara speaking in French to the Ivorian people. His diction is very clear, he speaks slowly, and his vocabulary includes many cognates (often typical of political discourse). You can find both video and text of his speeches on his web page: http://www.ado.ci/accueil.php
- READ/TRANSLATE an excerpt from one of Ouattar’s speeches. Building on this, ask students to WRITE a short commentary of their own to put the speech into context.
- Select text from Le Monde to READ/TRANSLATE and DISCUSS (as needed, adding text in English to faciliate comprehension).
WORLD HISTORY: What part did Ivory Coast and its first president, the venerable Felix Houphouet-Boigny, play in the larger West African movement for independence in the 1950s?
RESOURCES
OUATTARA’s WEB SITE: Access to videos of Alassane Ouattar’s speeches, with French text and other resources in French.
- See especially "Message la Nation du Président de la République SEM Alassane Ouattara" (March 3, 2011): http://www.ado.ci/accueil.php.
AllAfrica.com http://allafrica.com/
For breaking news, from UN agencies and Africa-based newspapers go to allAfrica.com.
Both of these pages have a constantly updated Twitter roll:
1) For general information, map of Abidjan, background, and older news go to the Ivory Coast page: http://allafrica.com/cotedivoire;
2) For the latest news, reports, photos, and video go to the Ivory Coast crisis page: http://cotedivoire.ushahidi.allafrica.com/
- Ferreira, Emsie. "Cote d’Ivoire: Country Confirms Endorsement of Ouattara." sapa [South African Press Association] (March 15, 2010): http://allafrica.com/stories/201103260063.html
- "Cote d’Ivoire: Violence in West Threatens Increasingly Vulnerable." International Organization for Migration (Geneva). Press release (March 26, 2010): http://allafrica.com/stories/201103260063.html
- Bob Leavitt (blogpost): "Cote d’Ivoire: President Obama’s Message to the People" (March 25, 2010): http://allafrica.com/stories/201103260061.html
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: "Cote d’Ivoire Roundup: Renewed Civil War." Sahel Blog (March 19, 2011): http://sahelblog.wordpress.com/2011/03/19/cote-divoire-roundup-renewed-civil-war/
- Many links to news, international reactions, blogs, opinion.
- See right column Blogroll for a long list of Africa-centered blogs.
Christian Science Monitor
"Invoking Libya, African Leaders Call for More UN Action," Christian Science Monitor (March 25, 2011).
Drew Henshaw, "The War Over Ivory Coast’s Cocoa Heats Up," Christian Science Monitor (January 26, 2011): http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Africa/2011/0126/The-war-over-Ivory-Coast-s-cocoa-heats-up
Marco Chown Oved, "Tense Ivory Coast Vote Reveals a Nation Divided," Christian Science Monitor (November 28, 2010): http://www.csmonitor.com/345844
New York Times
Times Topics> Ivory Coast: http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/ivorycoast/index.html
- When the Lynx checked this out, the list of NYT list of articles needed updating but there were links to breaking news from other sources (right side menu).
- Links to slideshows and video.
SLIDESHOW: "Elections in the Ivory Coast." http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2010/10/31/world/1101-ABIDJAN.html?ref=ivorycoast
VIDEO: "U.N. Truck Burned in Ivory Coast" (1:06): http://video.nytimes.com/video/2011/01/13/world/africa/1248069560454/u-n-truck-burned-in-ivory-coast.html?ref=ivorycoast
BBC News
‘‘Ivory Coast: Ecowas wants more UN action on Gbagbo" (March 24, 2010):
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12853554
- Excellent map shows area controlled by New Forces in north and government forces in south.
- Access additional BBC coverage from this page.
Le Monde (Paris) http://www.lemonde.fr
Full articles require a subscription. However, for classroom use the free summaries and excerpts are still quite useful.
Use the Search Box to find articles according to relevance. Scroll down the results to find another way to search--limited to today’s or the past week’s news.
GlobalPost
The mission of this news service is "to provide original international reporting ... that informs, entertains and fills the void created by diminished foreign coverage by American media." Articles draw upon other news sources but include endnotes (as links). So this web site will expedite student research! http://www.globalpost.com/
- "Ivory Coast Rebels Take Another Town; Thousands enlist to support Gbagbo." GlobalPost (March 21, 2011): http://globalpost.com/5632289
- "Violence Escalating in Ivory Coast." GlobalPost (March 18, 2011).
- Blogger Andrew Meldrum is an award-winning journalist and GlobalPost’s Deputy Managing Editor and Regional Editor for Africa. Having lived and worked as a reporter in Zimbabwe (until he was thrown out for exposing torture) and South Africa and having covered civil wars in Mozambique and Angola, he offers an exceptional point of view.
- See "Civil War Looms in Ivory Coast" (March 21, 2011): http://www.globalpost
Reports, Analysis, and Background
For a vast collection of links to information about Cote d’Ivoire (including culture, development, history, politics) see the Stanford University "Ivory Coast" page: http://www-sul.stanford.edu/depts/ssrg/africa/cote.html
"Cote d’Ivoire: Crimes Against Humanity by Gbagbo Forces." Human Rights Watch (March 15, 2011): http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2011/03/15/c-te-d-ivoire-crimes-against-humanity-gbagbo-forces
"Liberia: Refugee Crisis Needs World’s Attention Says Oxfam as UN High Commissioner," Oxfam (March 21, 2011):http://oxf.am/Zb7 http://www.oxfam.org/en/pressroom/pressrelease/2011-03-21/liberia-refugee-crisis-un-high-commissioner-refugees-Antonio-Guterres-Ivory-Coast; Permalink: http://oxf.am/Zb7
"Cote d’Ivoire: Is War the Only Option?" Africa Report No. 171. International Crisis Group (March 3, 2011): http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/regions/africa/west-africa/cote-divoire/171-cote-divoire-is-war-the-only-option.aspx
- Click on Ivory Coast (on left side menu) for background reports.
- Consult for analysis of current events in "hot spots" around the globe.
McGovern, Michael. Making War in Cote d’Ivoire. 2nd edition. London: C. Hurst, 2010; Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010.
- If you cannot find this edition in a college library, consult the first edition (London: Hurst & Co., 2006) for background, especially the years after President Houphouet-Boigny’s death in 1993, and for the political maneuvering and conflict after the 2000 election.
McGovern, Michael. "International Interventions in Cote d’Ivoire: In Search of a Point of Leverage." Conciliation Resources (2008):
http://www.c-r.org/our-work/accord/incentives/cote-d-ivoire.php
- "Conciliation Resources (CR) is an international non-governmental organization registered in the UK as a charity. We work with partners in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Pacific. These include local and international civil society organizations and governments."
- See the list of countries and regions on the left side menu.
McGovern, Michael. "This Is Play: Popular Culture and Politics in Cote d/Ivoire." In Anne-Maria Makhulu, Anne-Maria, Beth A. Buggenhagen,and Stephen Jackson, Hard Work, Hard Times: Global Volatility and African Subjectivities Location: Global, Area, and International Archive, 2010. Access from: http://escholarship.org/uc/item/24b027x0. McGovern’s contribution (begins on p. 87): http://escholarship.org/uc/item/24b027x0#page-87
- All the contributors are specialists. If you are interested in Africa, you will want to read all the papers.
- For additional academic sources consult the references at end of this e-book.
NOTES
1) "Ivory Coast: Ecowas Wants More UN Action on Gbagbo," BBC News (March 24th, 2011): http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12853554
2) Zunguzungu (March 2011): http://zunguzungu.wordpress.com/
3) "Liberia: Refugee Crisis Needs World’s Attention Says Oxfam as UN High Commissioner," Oxfam (March 21, 2011), Permalink: http://oxf.am/Zb7
4) For refugees see Jessica McDiarmid, "Families Fleeing Ivory Coast," The Star [Toronto] (March 18, 2011): http://www.thestar.com/956559; "Liberia: Refugee Crisis (note 3); "Cote d’Ivoire: Violence in West Threatens Increasingly Vulnerable," International Organization for Migration (Geneva), press release (March 26, 2010).
5) For Gbagbo’s new recruits see the photo in "Invoking Libya, African Leaders Call for More UN Action," Christian Science Monitor (March 25, 2011); See them in action, expressing animosity towards UN peacekeepers in the NYT video, "U.N. Truck Burned in Ivory Coast" (see RESOURCES). "Ivorian Youth Leader Tells Followers to Join Army," Reuters (March 19, 2010).
6) Marco Chown Oved, "Tense Ivory Coast Vote Reveals a Nation Divided," Christian Science Monitor (November 28, 2010). For details see Michael McGovern, "International Interventions in Cote d’Ivoire" (see RESOURCES).
7) See "Cote d’Ivoire: Is War the Only Option?" Africa Report No. 171. International Crisis Group (March 3, 2011) in RESOURCES.
8) Wikipedia: "Alassane Ouattara." URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alassane_Ouattara. This article provides a detailed account of Ouattara's professional and political career, with many citations from reputable sources.
9) See Andrew Meldrum, "Mugabe Arrests Cabinet Minister," Africa Emerging (March 10, 2011): http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/africa-emerges/mugabe-arrests-cabinet-ministers
10) Adam Nossiter, "Ensconced in the Presidency, With No Budging in Ivory Coast," New York Times (December 26, 2010).
11) "Ensconced in the Presidency" (see note 10). Scott Baldauf and Savious Kwinika, "Invoking Libya, African Leaders Call for More UN Action in Ivory Coast," Christian Science Monitor (March 25, 2010).
12) NYT 1-26-10. Adam Nossiter, "In Keeping Power Under Sanctions, Leader Goes by the Book," New York Times (March 17, 2010).
13) Drew Henshaw, "The War Over Ivory Coast’s Cocoa Heats Up," Christian Science Monitor (January 26, 2011) (see RESOURCES). Pauline Bax and Olivier Monnier, "Ivory Coast Conflict Escalates as Gbagbo Seizes Control of Cocoa Exports," Bloomberg (March 8, 2010): http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-07/ivory-coast-president-gbabgo-takes-control. Peter Heinlein, Ouattara Says Nationalize Ivory Coast’s Cocoa Sector Is Stealing," Voice of America (March 11, 2011). In the past the Cote’s contribution to the West African region’s GDP (Gross Domestic Product) has been as high as 40%.
14) "Cote d’Ivoire: Crimes Against Humanity by Gbagbo Forces." Human Rights Watch (March 15, 2011) (see RESOURCES). Ferreira, Emsie. "Cote d’Ivoire: Country Confirms Endorsement of Ouattara." sapa [South African Press Association] (March 15, 2010). Adam Nossiter, "Up to 1 Million Have Fled Ivory Coast Crisis, U.N. Says," New York Times (March 26, 2011).
No comments:
Post a Comment