By Dr. Gary K. Busch, 20/12/04
Dec 20, 2004, 15:39
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If there is one fact which shines out from the
rebellion in the Ivory Coast is that the rebels, the
so-called ?New Forces?, are led by men without vision
or responsibility; the morally bankrupt and the
politically primitive. Whatever one believes about
which side has the balance of justice in this conflict
it is blindingly clear that the victims of this
rebellion are the poor people of Northern Ivory Coast.
There is no water, no medicines, no schools, no
transport, no functioning hospitals, no banks and no
hope. A whole generation of Ivory Coast youth is being
condemned to a life of misery, fear and limited
aspirations. These are among the most serious war
crimes of the New Forces and their French allies and
supporters.
When Gbagbo was elected after the end of the vicious
military regime of Guei the voters of the whole of the
Ivory Coast hoped to a reduction in fear, a growth in
opportunities and a restoration of the many social
services which the country had enjoyed. Gbagbo
appointed a team of competent ministers and renewed
the bonds between the civil service and the
administration which had been alienated under Bedie
and Guei. Most importantly, he recognised that the
dependence on France and French business was not in
the long term interests of his country. Opportunities
to tender on government contracts were opened to
international bidding. For the first time businesses
in the U.S., China, Britain and South Africa were
invited to submit their tenders for government
programs and projects
The Ivory Coast is a rich country and growing ever
richer as the price of cocoa, of which it is the
largest international producer, continues to rise. The
French were furious at having to compete for business
in a country they regarded as ?theirs?. France is
Ivory Coast's number-one customer and top foreign
investor, owning 27 percent of the capital of
companies and representing 68 percent of direct
foreign investments. Moreover more than 17,000 French
citizens were resident in the country. Indeed, the
economic ties were crucial to France. That's why
French troops have been garrisoned in Ivory Coast
since its independence; you do not let go of a jewel.
Make no mistake; this was not a policy which was
directed at the Ivory Coast alone. When U.S. oil
interests successfully tendered for a contract to
develop a large block of oil fields in Congo
Brazzaville, the French demanded that President
Lissouba retract the tender and award the concession
to a French company. The contract was removed from the
U.S. oil company which was given a ?comparable? (but
much more expensive and risky) contract. President
Chirac visited Brazzaville before his Presidential
campaign and demanded a million francs from the
Congolese President to help defray his French campaign
costs. When Lissouba refused, Chirac raged that he
would ?bring him down?. Indeed Sassou-Nguesso was
encouraged to do exactly that.
Chirac travelled to all the francophone nations in
African demanding money for his campaign. The French
embassies in Africa were divided between the new
groups of diplomats who were ?Les Amis d?Jacques
Chirac? and the old group of Pasquaistes who had been
running the embassies. The French policies towards
Africa are not determined by the French body politic;
they are the preserve of the President.
By tradition in France, foreign affairs are the French
president's private domain. The foreign affairs
minister only applies his policies. France is the only
Western country where foreign policy is not a debating
topic. The sovereignty of the people does not mean
anything even if it has elected the president
directly. The Parliament has no checking powers and is
quietly relegated to domestic matters.
The French Republic is free to act as an authoritarian
regime, not as a democracy, since President Chirac has
a free hand with international matters. To this day,
France has never had to introduce an internal
democratic debate to discuss its own foreign policy.
This is key to understanding French foreign policy: it
is above all the policy of one man or group of men,
not of a nation. Such diplomacy requires a strong
personal leadership along with the awareness of the
nation's interests, two qualities necessary to put up
a straight line of action, but two qualities often
missing.
The war of the French against the Ivory Coast is a war
by Jacques Chirac against the Ivory Coast. It was his
fit of pique which ordered the French ?peacekeepers?
to attack and destroy the Ivory Coast air force. It
was his order to send over a hundred tanks to surround
the Hotel d?Ivoire and President Gbagbo?s house. It
was his decision to allow his soldiers to open fire on
a crowd of singing youths, totally unarmed and
non-threatening, seeking only to stop the French from
making a coup or killing President Gbagbo. These Young
Patriots gave up their lives for their country and
scores of others were wounded because of Jacques
Chirac.
The so-called New Forces have demanded that the Gbagbo
Government eliminate Article 35 of the Constitution;
an article which says that both parent of aspiring
presidential candidates should be *******. This was a
constitutional amendment introduced by the former
President Henri Konan Bedie to keep Alassane D.
Ouattara out of power. Gbagbo agreed to submit this
amendment to the National Assembly for review. The
National Assembly agreed to put the issue to a
referendum (as it was passed by a referendum) just as
the Constitution demands. Now the New Forces are
agitated and say that this act of following the
Constitution is an ?act of war? against them. How can
following the law be an act of war?
They object because before there can be a referendum
or an election they rebels must disarm. This was a
clear agreement made at Marcoussis and subsequently.
They dare not disarm nor face an election. They
survive as parasites on the poor citizens of the
North. They have no money, no vision, no policy and no
social program. They are armed bands of thugs, as
often at each others? throats as against the
government. The French, in clear violation of the UN
ban on arms have been resupplying the rebels through
Chad. The Mbeki plan will not work as long as the
French continue to meddle in Ivory Coast politics. It
is only they who benefit from a long drawn out
conflict.
President Gbagbo is coming to the end of his elected
term without ever being given a chance to govern. His
radical ideas of justice and increased opportunity
have been blocked at every turn. His notion of
allowing U.S. and other companies to participate in
the burgeoning oil and gas sector, or to buy cocoa
directly for companies like Hershey?s without going
through French agents has never been given a chance.
The war of Chirac against the Ivory Coast has had the
blessing of the United Nations; French neo-colonial
outrages are committed in the name of UN peacekeeping.
Surely the poor disenfranchised and terrorised people
in northern Ivory Coast deserve better. The UN has no
business empowering thugs and killers to become part
of a civilised government or to share power with one.
Above all, the overweening pride, arrogance and
cruelty of Jacques Chirac must be curbed by the
international community because the French people and
political institutions are incapable or unwilling to
do so.
Source:Ocnus.net 2004
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http://www.africaops.com
Le site qui analyse les causes et implications de la crise ivoirienne.
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