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NEWS & LETTERS, March 2003
Our Life and TimesIvory Coast unrestTensions in this small West African country reached new
heights in February. After months of civil war, the intervention of
"peacekeepers" from former colonial ruler France, and a peace accord
imposed under French pressure, murderous rioting broke out on the streets of
Abidjan, the capital, located in the South. Orchestrated by elements of the police and the military,
the rioters attacked French targets, blaming France for a peace agreement that
mandated power-sharing with rebels centered in the North and West. They reserved
their most violent attacks for Ivory Coast citizens from other regions and
immigrants from neighboring countries, considering all of them rebel supporters. In fact, the central rebel demand, the repeal of the 2000 electoral law defining nationality or "ivoirité" in such a way as to label vast numbers of citizens foreigners in their own country, is completely justified. Enacted by the former dictatorship in a demagogic attempt to hold onto power, the policy of "ivoirité" was retained by the democratically elected President Laurent Gbagbo. The fact that many of those so targeted were of Muslim background (60% of the country is Muslim), while the rulers were predominantly Christian, only exacerbated the tensions. One hopes that Gbagbo and those around him, many of them with leftist backgrounds, will begin to use their immense prestige to dampen rather than fan the ethno-religious fires they have helped to create. |
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