Alert!
Côte
d'Ivoire Crisis: WANEP
Policy Briefs
Key
conflict accelerating indicators
Tribal
Allegiance: The notion of tribe and ethnicity per se does not constitute
a source of conflict. On the contrary, tribal or ethnic affiliation
has been the bedrock upon which the foundation of nation states has
been built long before the advent of colonialism and even after. Ethnicity
thus becomes a vice when it is exploited and used for selfish political
ends.
This
rather negative "politics of the tribe" may likely raise its ugly head
in Cote d'Ivoire. The ethnological map of Côte d'Ivoire provides one
of the strongest trans-frontier affinities in Africa, rendering the
idea of colonially designed nation state fragile and vulnerable in the
face of conflict. Tribal allegiance in Côte d'Ivoire is very strong
as in most countries of the sub-region.
Late
President Houphouet Boigny in his high-handed rule was cautious to maintain
a kind of "ethnocracy" by picking his ministers, directors and top civil
servants and military officers from nearly all the tribes. The tribes
led by the chiefs in turn paid allegiance to the President for appointing
one of theirs by organizing festive visits to the nation's capital and
sumptuous receptions at home.
Governance
was therefore a sort of centralized tribal form of government with the
tribal elite in the urban centers "representing and defending the interests"
of their respective tribes. Houphouet-Boigny did not tolerate the use
of the word strangers and declared that the land belonged to the one
that put it into fruitful use. That was in the years of the cocoa and
coffee boom. Because of the absence of competitive politics and pluralistic
democracy, the ethnic divide was shelved.
Concept
of Ivoirité: Unfortunately caught in the storm of the early
90s multi-party pattern of governance forced on most African leaders,
Houphouet's successors introduced ethnic based politics by institutionalizing
a political concept called iviorité (based on who is Ivorian and who
is not).
This
concept destroyed the inclusive political foundation that their predecessor
built for more than 30 years. The politically exclusive iviorité concept
was recently reinforced when an additional clause in the constitution
called on Ivorians to return to their village of origin for witnesses
to confirm or attest to their birth details. This process of identification
has largely been criticized as another ploy to exclude many polical
rivals, even at grassroot level.
Land
Ownership: The concept of ivoirité equally meant those who were
not authentic Ivorians could not own land no matter how legally they
acquired it. This was a major deviation from Houphouet's principle,
which he unfortunately did not reduce into law. Thus Côte d'Ivoire had
no clear legislature on land tenure.
The
1998 land law instead created more problems when a clause was introduced
calling on foreigners to hand over to the government all land in their
possession upon their death. Their children or the family could only
continue to farm on such land on rent. This has been seriously criticized
by NGOs as a potential source of conflict.
Elections:
Recent elections and politics in Côte d'Ivoire have shown a significant
tilt towards tribal and ethnic loyalty. President Gbagbo's political
stronghold is his home town in the mid-west, and perhaps the metropolitan
city of Abidjan.
The
PDCI party is well implanted in the Akan land. It is germane to stress
here that the Akans of Côte d'Ivoire hold enormous political power.
The RDR of Alassane Ouattara's fief is the north. Côte d'Ivoire had
split on ethnic lines following the various elections conducted recently
and one could easily say who controls what portion of the national territory.
Religious
Cleavage: The religious factor has entangled with ethnicity either
by design (for political gains) or by chance and rendered the country
vulnerable to a major ethnic or religious cleavage.
The
burning down of Mosques in Abidjan during the tumultuous political period
of 2000 and 2001 was interpreted by Muslims as a calculated attempt
by Christian to exclude them from parting in the "national cake".
Rampant Street Demonstrations: Peaceful street demonstrations
are a part of the democratic process. It is a right for citizens to
express their grievances through protest marches. The rate of street
demonstrations and strikes in Côte d'Ivoire of recent has been alarming.
That
the customs, police, and magistrates joined the market women, taxi and
cap owners, the handicapped in the streets to express their grievances
shows a break-down in communication and the lack of institutional structures
to address the needs of Ivorians. It is difficult to understand that
the magistracy, one of the wings of governance in March and April 2002
staged protest marches to make their point.
Implosion
in the Police/Military: In
October 2001, the Ivorian police force was on strike, protesting poor
conditions of work and low pay. The police seem to have developed a
particular envy towards their fellow colleagues in arms-the gendarmes,
the elitist paramilitary force. The police feel that the highly paid
gendarmes are not more important to the country than they are. The gendarmes
who are seemingly pro-Gbagbo (most of the top gendarmes offices come
form Gbagbo's region) and better equipped.
The gendarmes stood behind Gbagbo when the RDR militants challenged
Gbagbo's legitimacy after Gueï's failed electoral coup of October 2000.
Even between the gendarmes and the soldiers, the current flow has not
always been regular.
September
19 Rebellion: The ongoing crisis is revealing a dangerous trend.
The territory under rebel control is predominantly in the Sénoufo and
Malinké land, even if the strategic town of Bouaké is in the northern
fringes of the Baoulé land.
The
trans-border links between the Ivorian Malinkés and Sénoufos and their
cousins in Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea are enough to regionalize the
conflict in case of escalation. To win the support and sympathy of the
local population, the rebels have raised the issue of marginalization
and exclusion of northerners, majority Muslim and supporters of Ouattara.
Making
public their intentions, the rebels said they want to oust President
Gbagbo and institute a policy of justice and equality for all by organizing
elections that would be inclusive of all political parties and all Ivorians.
They say they want a Côte d'Ivoire reminiscent of Houpheout-Boigny's
years where the notion of stranger was never in his political vocabulary.
Perhaps more important, the leaders of the rebellion want to put an
end to domination by the predominantly Christian south. The rebels have
therefore tactfully capitalized on pertinent grievances to lure the
population on their side by drumming the ethnic factor.
