Africa, Costa d’Avorio, Francia, ONU Wsws 06-01-26
Proteste contro l’ONU e l’occupazione francese della
Costa d’Avorio
Ann Talbot
In Africa
Occidentale, divenuta un’importante fonte di petrolio, la Francia si trova in concorrenza con GB ristabilita in Sierra Leone, e USA, in Liberia.
Emerge come rivale della
Francia nelle ex colonie in Africa Occidentale, anche la Cina che ha finanziato la costruzione del nuovo palazzo del Parlamento
della Costa d’Avorio (C.d.A.), divenuta un produttore di petrolio la scorsa estate.
Il presidente ivoriano
Gbagbo spera nei prestiti cinesi come ha fatto con lo Zimbabwe, in cambio
dell’accesso al petrolio e al cacao. Sta
cercando di mettere la Francia contro gli USA ed entrambi contro la Cina.
L’intervento della
Francia in C.d.A. è stato reso possibile dall’appoggio della Nigeria, il
cui presidente Obasanjo ha negoziato l’accordo che ha posto fine alle proteste
recenti, in cambio Obasanjo chiede la destituzione di Gbagbo.
Il ministro degli Esteri nigeriano Oluyemi Adeniji fa parte dell’International
Working Group (ONU) IWG.
Anche il Sud Africa è
intervenuto a mediare lo scorso anno l’accordo che ha portato alla nomina a primo ministro del filo-francese
Konan Banny. Konan Banny è stato nominato primo ministro in dic. 2005 dall’ONU,
senza consultazioni popolari; ex presidente della Banque Centrale des Etats del’Afrique de l’Ouest (Banca Centrale dei paesi dell’Africa Occidentale).
I paesi ex colonie
francesi sono rimasti economicamente dipendenti dalla Francia, le loro
valute controllare da Parigi, e le economie dominate dalle società francesi.
I caschi blu hanno tentato di reprimere in Costa d’Avorio le
proteste contro l’ordine di scioglimento
dell’Assemblea Nazionale (controllata dall’FPI, il partito del presidente
Laurent Gbagbo) e di nuove elezioni da parte dell’IWG, per rafforzare il
primo ministro, Konan Banny.
Le forze ONU sono state costrette
ad abbandonare le basi al confine con la Liberia, e a ritirarsi verso il Nord
sotto il controllo dei ribelli appoggiati dalla Francia e capeggiati
dall’Alliance de Houphouëtistes pour la Démocratie et la Paix.[1]
Sono presenti in
Costa d’Avorio 7000 caschi blu a copertura della presenza di 4000 soldati e poliziotti francesi; i
militari pattugliano la linea di confine tra le forze governative nel Sud e
nell’Ovest e i ribelli al Nord.[2]
Le recenti proteste sono state organizzate dai Jeunes
Patriotes, guidati da Charles Ble Goude.
I Jeunes Patriotes
sono reclutati tra gli strati giovanili disoccupati, che hanno sentito
sulla propria pelle il collasso economico del paese negli ultimi due decenni. Il presidente Gbagbo cerca di
mantenerne l’appoggio con fraseologia
anti-imperialista, ideologia xenofoba e finanziamenti in denaro.
Gbagbo ex
sindacalista, è stato incarcerato e
poi esiliato sotto Houphouët-Boigny; ha legami con il partito socialista
francese.
Poco prima delle proteste si è avuta un’ondata di xenofobia, appoggiata dal governo che ha gettato in
carcere dozzine di immigrati del Burkina Faso, con alcune vittime.
Ci sarebbe stato un
ammutinamento nelle forze armate ivoriane, già in passato c’erano state
rivolte tra i soldati per mancato pagamento. L’ex capo di stato maggiore Mathias Doué, fuggito nel Nord, ha incitato
all’insurrezione contro Gbagbo.
Gbagbo ha cercato di estromettere dalle forze armate i
generali a lui ostili, sostituendoli con membri del suo gruppo etnico.
In vista di una
ripresa della guerra Gbagbo conta su una serie di forze armate:
- la Garde Répubblicaine, del presidente, forze
anti-sommossa con armi pesanti, reclutate allo scoppio della guerra civile; - una nuova forza paramilitare, creata nel 2005, e
chiamata Centre de Commandement des Opérations de Sécurité (Cecos). - Milizie non ufficiali, note come Scorpions, aumentate
nello scorso anno; - Nell’Ovest Gbagbo avrebbe reclutato mercenari liberiani,
compresi ex soldati bambini.
La UE, su pressione
francese, ha stanziato €33mn per l’identificazione delle origini etniche dei
residenti in C. d. A., per determinare chi può godere dei diritti civili. Una
iniziativa che può facilmente far scoppiare scontri etnici simili a quelli
vissuti in Ruanda.
La Francia, che si pretende forza neutra, in quanto potenza
coloniale è stata in gran parte
responsabile delle tensioni tra le varie comunità dell’Africa Occidentale; in
particolare nella C.d.A. ha alimentato la rivalità tra il Sud cristiano e il
Nord musulmano.
La politica seguita dalla Francia alla decolonizzazione dell’Africa
Occidentale nel 1960 fu la divisione dell’area in piccole unità, i cui confini
passavano appositamente attraverso gruppi etnici, linguistici e religiosi, al
fine di creare paesi deboli e divisi.
La questione della iniqua distribuzione della terra, eredità
del colonialismo francese, è stato una delle maggiori cause di conflitto.
[1] Félix Houphouët-Boigny fu
il primo presidente della C.d.A., che mantenne strette relazioni con la
Francia. Governò dall’indipendenza nel 1960 alla morte nel 1993; tenne le prime
elezioni pluri-partito nel 1990. Suo successore fu Bédié, (poi destituito nel
1999 da un putsch militare del generale Robert Guei); Ouattara, ex funzionario
FMI, divenne primo ministro. Nelle elezioni del 2000 venne presidente letto
Laurent Gbagbo, accettato da Francia e Occidente. Quattara venne escluso dal
governo per questioni etniche.
[2] La popolazione della C.d.A. è composto da molteplici gruppi etnici e linguistici;
si calcola inoltre che il 26% siano
immigrati, o discendenti di immigrati da Burkina Faso e Mali, andati a lavorare
nei campi di cacao. Negli anni 1990 i gruppi al potere, di fronte alla la crisi
economica dovuta alla caduta dei prezzi del cacao e alla svalutazione della
valuta, accentuarono la repressione degli altri gruppi etnici.
Wsws 06-01-26
Protests
against UN and French occupation of Ivory Coast
By Ann Talbot
United Nations General Secretary Kofi
Annan has threatened to impose sanctions on those responsible for four days of protests in the West African
country of Ivory Coast.
Annan complained of “orchestrated violence directed against the United
Nations.” France, the former colonial
power, has called for the UN forces to be reinforced.
There are no reported casualties among
the UN troops, whereas according to local doctors five people were killed and
ten injured when UN troops opened fire on protesters in Guiglo in the west
of the country. In the commercial capital of Abidjan,
UN troops fired live rounds at protesters outside a hotel that has been turned
into the headquarters of the UN mission in Ivory Coast. No one was
reported injured in this incident.
The streets of Abidjan were blocked by barricades manned by
protestors. A girl told reporters, “We are tired of foreign intervention. We
are tired of neo-colonial attitudes.”
Protests
began after the International Working Group (IWG), which answers to the UN Security
Council, announced that the country’s National Assembly was to be dissolved and
new elections held. This was seen as an attempt to strengthen the position of
Prime Minister Konan Banny at the expense of President Laurent Gbagbo, whose
party the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) currently dominates the National
Assembly.
Konan Banny was appointed prime
minister by the UN in December. A former president of the Banque Centrale des
Etats de l’Afrique de l’Ouest, he is regarded as a reliable defender of French
interests. A spokesman for the FPI said the UN
decision to dissolve the National Assembly was a “constitutional
coup-d’état”.
The four days of protests did not
reach the scale of those that followed the French destruction of the Ivorian
air force in 2004, when France
was forced to withdraw its nonessential civilians. But the movement was
widespread throughout the government-controlled areas. UN troops were
forced to evacuate bases in the towns of Guiglo and Duekoue near the border
with Liberia
and retreat towards the rebel held north of the country. The chief of the
UN mission in Liberia was,
at one point, considering whether to fortify the border with Ivory Coast.
There
are currently 7,000 UN and 4,000 French soldiers and police in Ivory Coast. Most patrol the dividing
line between the government forces in the south and west of the country and the
rebels in the north.
The
UN mandate provides a cover for the French intervention in its former colony. Paris is backing the
opposition alliance of Alassane Dramane Ouattara and Henri Konan Bédié. They style themselves on the Alliance
de Houphouëtistes pour la Démocratie et la Paix—a name taken from Félix
Houphouët-Boigny who was the first president of Ivory Coast. Relations between
Houphouët-Boigny and France
were close. There is said to be a tunnel between the presidential palace
and the neighbouring French embassy. Since relations deteriorated it is
rumoured to have been blocked.
Houphouët-Boigny ruled from
independence in 1960 until his death in 1993. He held the first multi-party
elections in 1990. Bédié succeeded him as president and Ouattara, a former IMF
official, became prime minister.
In 1999 Bédié was overthrown in a
military coup led by General Robert Guei. The following year Guei held
presidential elections and was replaced by Laurent Gbagbo. Although Ouattara was
excluded from the election on the grounds of ethnicity, and their validity was
challenged as a result, Gbagbo was accepted as president by France and the
West.
Xenophobia became an increasingly
prominent part of Ivory
Coast politics as the economy deteriorated
during the 1990s. The population is made up of numerous ethnic and
linguistic groups and religious communities. In addition, an estimated 26
percent of the people are migrants, or descendants of migrants, from Burkina Faso and Mali, who came to work in the cocoa
fields.
Ivory
Coast was once the most
prosperous country in West Africa. But with
the devaluation of the CFA franc and the collapse of the cocoa price its
economy has gone into steep decline. The
response of the political elite was to scapegoat other ethnic groups for the
deteriorating situation caused by the continued economic dominance of France and the
world market. Since the 1990s Ivory
Coast has seen an escalating spiral of
violence, as competition for dwindling resources has intensified.
The recent street protests were
organized by the pro-Gbagbo Jeunes Patriotes (Young Patriots), who are led
by Charles Ble Goude. According to the BBC. the Young Patriots were in
control of virtually all the main streets in Abidjan.
On January 18 Gbagbo called for the
protests to end, but it was not until the morning of January 20, when Ble Goude
gave the order, that the protests ceased. The
Young Patriots are drawn from the many unemployed youth who have felt the full
force of the collapse of the economy over the last two decades.
Gbagbo
built a reputation for militancy as a trade union leader. Under Houphouët-Boigny he
served terms of imprisonment and later exile. He has close ties with the French
Socialist Party. He tries to maintain the support of the Young Patriots
by anti-imperialist rhetoric, xenophobia and handing out banknotes. But fundamental economic and social issues
lie behind their mobilization, which he is incapable of answering.
Shortly before the protests began there
was growing evidence of rising
xenophobia backed by Gbagbo’s government. Paramilitary gendarmes detained dozens of Burkina Faso nationals.
They are said to be holding them in barracks in Abidjan. Three Burkinabe men have been found
shot dead in unexplained circumstances.
The arrests followed incidents at two
military camps outside Abidjan.
Rebels supposedly launched an attack on the bases. The army later released photographs
of 32 naked and bloody detainees whom they said had attacked the bases. But
local residents claimed that they were gardeners, carpenters and security
guards. One of the supposed attackers, who was shot dead, has been
identified as a member of the main opposition party, the Rally of the
Republicans (RDR). He was said to be on his way to work as a security guard
when he was stopped at a military checkpoint and summarily executed. Two
unidentified bodies have been found near military checkpoints.
Press reports have speculated that there
may have been a mutiny in the army. President Gbagbo’s control over the army
is limited. There have been previous mutinies over pay arrears. Former Chief of
Staff Mathias Doué, who has fled to the north of the country, has called for an
uprising against Gbagbo.
Gbagbo has been purging the army of
opposition generals and breaking up unreliable
units. Key posts have been put in the hands of members of his own ethnic
group. He relies heavily on the Garde Républicaine, recruited at the outbreak
of the civil war, the heavily armed riot police and private security
companies that are alleged to be associated with his wife Simone Gbagbo. A
new paramilitary force was set up last year called Centre de Commandement des
Opérations de Sécurité (Cecos). A telephone number has been published to
denounce “any suspect or suspicious attitude” to Cecos. The organization is
said to have been involved in the recent deaths of alleged rebels. There are also
unofficial militias known as Scorpions, who are loyal to Gbagbo. Their
numbers have increased over the last year. In the west of the country,
Gbagbo is said to be recruiting Liberian mercenaries, including former child
soldiers.
Gbagbo’s actions indicate that he is
preparing for a renewed civil war and that he intends to step up the ethnic
and inter-communal violence as a means of maintaining power. France presents itself as a neutral party in this conflict, but this
is not the case. As the colonial power, it was largely responsible for establishing
the animosities between the different communities in West
Africa. It particularly fuelled the rivalry between the largely
Christian southerners and northern Muslims in Ivory Coast.
At France’s
instigation the European Union has allocated €33 million ($44 million) for the
process of identifying the ethnic origin of residents of Ivory Coast and
determining on this basis who will be allowed civil rights. This could easily become a spark for ethnic violence of the kind
that was seen in Rwanda.
It has been a consistent part of French colonial policy to foment ethnic
rivalries. When it granted French
West Africa independence in 1960, France divided up the colony into
small units whose boundaries were deliberately drawn to cut across ethnic,
linguistic and religious groups. Its intention was to create countries that
would be weak and internally divided.
Never
far from the ethnic rivalry is the question of land.
The inequitable distribution of land—the
basis of cocoa production—is one of the
most destructive legacies from the French colonial period.
Even after independence the countries that were once French West
Africa remained economically dependent on France. Their currencies were
controlled from Paris
and their economies continued to be dominated by French companies.
France is
intent on maintaining its presence on the West
African coast, which has become a major source of oil. The UK has
re-established itself in Sierra Leone
and the United States in Liberia. Ivory Coast
became an oil producer last summer when its Baobab field came on stream.
France, which has limited supplies of fossil fuels, cannot afford to give way
to rival imperialist powers.
Other rivals are emerging. China is stepping up its investments in West Africa. It financed the building of the new Ivory Coast
Maison de Deputés (parliament building). Gbagbo
is hoping that China will
offer loans as it has done in Zimbabwe
in return for access to Ivory
Coast’s oil and cocoa. Ivory Coast grows 40
percent of international cocoa production, making it the world’s largest
supplier.
France could not have intervened
in Ivory Coast
without the help of other African states. Nigeria’s President Olusegun
Obasanjo negotiated the deal which brought an end to the recent protests. But Nigeria is not
a disinterested party in the dispute. It has made clear that it wants to remove
Gbagbo from the presidency. Usman Buagaje, chairman
of the Nigerian House of Representatives, said, “We have to remove him [Gbagbo]
from the scene.”
President
Thabo Mbeki of South Africa brokered the agreement last year in Pretoria under
which the UN set up the International Working Group that appointed Konan Banny
prime minister without any election or consultation with the population of
Ivory Coast. Nigerian Foreign Minister Oluyemi Adeniji sits on the IWG along
with Pierre Schori of the UN.
Nigeria and South Africa
are effectively acting on behalf of imperialism by policing the region. They no doubt hope to
increase their own influence by doing so. But their actions are allowing a
new phase of colonialism to emerge.
The
ruling elite in Nigeria and South Africa as well as Ivory Coast have shown themselves to be
incapable of defending Africa from imperialist
depredation. Their first resort is always to seek a
compromise that will ensure that they continue to enjoy their privileged
position.
Gbagbo’s descent into xenophobia and
communal violence is an extreme expression of the bankruptcy of African
nationalism. Almost half a century after
the first one came to power, no African nationalist regime has succeeded in
resolving the problems bequeathed to it by colonialism. Ivory Coast
is still bedeviled by the land question and by communal rivalries. Its economy
is still dependent on the big cocoa processors, French banks and the international
financial system.
Gbagbo
is attempting to play off France against the US and both of them against China in the hope of getting some concession from one of them in return
for access to the country’s resources. He cannot offer any real prospect of
economic or social development on this basis. He must therefore blame
immigrants and vulnerable ethnic groups for the country’s economic collapse. An
essential precondition for the defence of any African country against recolonisation
is to unite all its oppressed peoples irrespective of ethnicity, language or
religion in a common struggle. Gbagbo and his fellow nationalist leaders
are inherently incapable of taking this route.