South African President Thabo Mbeki is engaged in political firefighting in the Côte d’Ivoire, where fears of a full-scale civil war between government and rebel forces loom large.
Côte d’Ivoire, the world’s largest cocoa producer, began slipping into chaos on November 4 when the army attacked the rebel-held north, shattering a fragile 18-month ceasefire.
In the process, nine French peacekeepers were killed. Paris retaliated by destroying almost all of the small Ivorian air force.
Since then, France has sent an additional 600 soldiers to back up its 4 000 peacekeepers, who are part of a United Nations force of 10 000 in Côte d’Ivoire.
There are fears that the fighting could affect fragile states like Sierra Leone and Liberia, which are struggling to recover from their own civil wars, and perhaps even countries further afield.
”Mbeki’s attempts to bring all of the belligerents together should be welcomed,” Dieudalle Tshiyoyo of the Electoral Institute of Southern Africa — an independent think-tank in Johannesburg — said in a telephone interview on Tuesday.
Mbeki met Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo in the commercial capital of Abidjan last week. After the talks, Mbeki told journalists that he was ”encouraged” by Gbagbo’s commitment to restoring peace in his divided nation.
Mbeki also met Burkina Faso’s leader, Blaise Compaore, who is accused by Ivorian officials of supporting the rebels. In addition, Mbeki said he would hold discussions with Ivorian rebel leader Guillaume Soro this week as part of ongoing peace efforts.
Mbeki has been asked by Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, the current chair of the 53-member African Union (AU), to mediate in the Ivorian crisis.
South Africa heads the AU’s Peace and Security Council, which is mandated to address conflicts on the continent.
”They [the AU] needed someone outside the [West African] region to talk to the Ivorians,” Che Ajulu, a researcher at the Institute for Global Dialogue, also based in Johannesburg said on Tuesday.
Said Tshiyoyo: ”People believe that South Africa is an honest broker. They believe that South Africans don’t play the role of the big brother — that South Africans don’t force people to do something. Rather, they employ persuasion to make peace, voluntarily.”
”It happened in Burundi and in the Democratic Republic of Congo. South Africa has also played a major role in restoring peace in Sierra Leone and Liberia,” he added.
Perhaps the most worrying trend in the Ivorian crisis is the growing ethnic and religious divide in the country, something ascribed in part to the use of hate speech.
On November 11, the New York-based pressure group Human Rights Watch urged Ivorian authorities to ensure that pro-government militias ended all attacks and threats against civilians.
The government was also asked to halt radio and television broadcasts intended to incite violence against perceived opponents.
In recent years, northerners, Muslims and West African immigrants have come under attack from the militias, who accuse them of supporting the northern-based rebellion, noted Human Rights Watch in a statement.
More than 5 000 foreigners, mostly French expatriates, have been evacuated from Côte d’Ivoire since last week.
”Until they were evacuated, French citizens bore the brunt of the militias’ xenophobic attacks. Now we are concerned the militias will turn their rage on their more familiar targets — Muslims, northerners and West African immigrants,” said Peter Takirambudde, executive director of Human Rights Watch’s Africa Division.
”Given the history of militia abuses during Cote d’Ivoire’s political crisis, the United Nations must anticipate such attacks and be ready to respond,” he added.
Ajulu said antipathy towards foreigners appeared to be restricted to pro- government militias.
”The picture we are getting out of Cote d’Ivoire is a wrong one. I don’t think it reflects the sentiment of Ivorians. The anti-foreign sentiment should not be seen as the work of Ivorians against the French,” he noted.
When the rebels rose in 2002, the French blocked their advance on Abidjan, where they sought to topple Gbagbo’s administration.
The French acted as a buffer zone between the belligerents, while encouraging dialogue to resolve the country’s two most pressing issues: criteria for citizenship and land rights.
At present, several million northerners — the descendants of immigrant workers — have been excluded from owning land and acquiring Ivorian citizenship.
France also wanted an agreement on eligibility requirements for presidential candidates — this after a northern candidate had been excluded in two previous elections.
The solution to the Ivorian crisis, some experts argue, lies in Gbagbo’s departure.
”I think we must get Laurent Gbagbo out of Cote d’Ivoire,” Ajulu said.
”If he’s removed out of the equation, it’s better for the peace process. Gbagbo has refused to implement peace agreements,” he noted, in reference to the January 2003 and July 2004 accords signed by government and the rebels.
”I don’t think Gbagbo is for peace. He has surrounded himself with hardliners.”
According to Ajulu, a precedent for Gbagbo’s departure was set last year by Liberian President Charles Taylor’s exit from office. Since Taylor was exiled to Nigeria, the civil war that was raging in his country has ended — and many Liberians have been able to return to the homes they fled.
Rebel leader Soro has also been calling for the departure of Gbagbo ahead of elections in December 2005, telling journalists in the rebel-held city of Bouake that the president could not unite the country.
In addition, he welcomed Monday’s decision by the United Nations to place an arms embargo on Côte d’Ivoire. Under the resolution, drafted by France, Ivorian officials who block peace efforts will also have their assets and bank accounts frozen — and face a travel ban.
Ajulu believes that the arms embargo could force the Ivorian leaders to end conflict.
”It is part of the peace process,” he said. ”If there is a stalemate, Gbagbo might resume war after accumulating weapons.” – Sapa-IPS