THE IVORIAN WAR AND THE POLITICS OF IDENTITY

When it comes to our politics, the outsider is a patent threat and must be contained. The threat, however, is rather political than economic

“Good morning Force Commander. Ma’am we have a new update on Carana…”

There seems to be some fun, tingly and satisfactory feeling with being Force Commander. Especially as a civilian, because not many are privileged to witness such things in their lives.

That was what the Koffi Anaan Center did to us.

Whenever we talk about War, Peace Keeping and Early Warning Mechanisms, we usually think of bombs, dust, ash and some blue flag with some white thing in the middle. Some funny press conference with Politically correct wordings, ready to save the day.

But rarely what happens behind the scenes.

I was doing my research on the Ivorian War, using Isiaka Alani Badmus’ ; “Even the Stones are Burning: Explaining the Ethnic Dimensions of the Civil War in C?te d’Ivoire”, when I had this epiphany. Well, not really an epiphany, but a “It’s so obvious!” moment.

Wars really do start from home…and that we need more psychiatrists in the field.

When we talk about the role of Ethnic Dimensions of War and xenophobia, do you see how it plays in starting and fuelling war? How does ethnographies-nationalistic conflict play when it comes to politics in Ivory Coast and what was its contribution to war?

It was funny really, reading about President Felix Houphoeuet Boygy’s policy of openness ie allowing Migrants/foreigners to move into, live and work in Ivory Coast, fuelled ethnic tensions and how President Henry Konan Bedie’s “Ivorite” fuelled more tension with communities from the North questioning their Ivorian identity.

It is apparent that ivoirité?was conceived and deeply designed purposelyas a strategy of political exclusion with the self?serving interests of protecting the Akanhegemony and the domination of political power by the Baoulé to the exclusion of others.

When we talk about Silencing The Guns, do we really want to get into the mud, and start from home? Because there’s things as Africans, that we see and go like “You need to talk to your grandfathers Sir!”

The Politics of Identity and Violence in C?te d’Ivoire

Reading up on Siendou A. KONATE “The Politics of Identity and Violence in Cote d’ivory”, reminded me so much of RD Congo and its neighbours, Rwanda and Burundi.

They all fell prey to the same ethnic and tribal conflicts initiated by some politicians who believed that the only way to get to the presidential palace, was to set different ethnic and language communities against each other. However, Cote d’Ivoire was a stable cultural mosaic that certain people had thought was safe from the virulent identity politics and its subsequent bloodbath that characterised Burundi, Rwandaand the former Yugoslavia.

On the ideological side, the defence of “ivoirité,” is piloted by Prof Niamkey Koffi, a philosopher, who supplies us with the true rationale behind the term. In fact, Koffi believes that there is a need rethink the Ivorian national identity and that in order to carry out that exercise one must establish a binary opposition of ‘Us versus Them’. In that regard, the theorist maintains that: “Pour construire un NOUS, il faut le distinguer d’un EUX. Il faut parvenir a établir la discrimination NOUS/EUX d’une maniere qui soit compatible avec le pluralisme des nationalités.” [in order to construct an US, it has to be distinguished from a THEM. One has to establish the discrimination.

When it comes to our politics, the outsider is a patent threat and must be contained. The threat, however, is rather political than economic because, for example, the economy of C?te d’Ivoire was made on the back of “foreigners” most especially people from former Upper Volta [now Burkina Faso]. Some of them were brought to the C?te d’Ivoire colony by the French colonialists and others were attracted to independent C?te d’Ivoire by Houphouet-Boigny’s call for labor force for coffee and cocoa plantations. The theoretical gymnastics about the Ivorian identity was meant to safeguard the highest office in the nation, the Presidency of the Republic, which, according to the advocates of “ivoirité,” was about to be hijacked by “foreigners”.

Ouattara’s handicap is that he left his country ever since he was ten years old. After completion of his studies in the United States he served in the Central Bank of West Africa where he represented Upper Volta, now Burkina Faso, and ultimately served as the Deputy Director of the International Monetary Fund. His political enemies maintained that he was not a national of C?te d’Ivoire, a charge which he rejected numerous times. His adversaries contend that he could not run for president because he had spent most of his life outside C?te d’Ivoire and was not familiar with the socio-political reality of the country. Ouattara’s insistence on being candidate explains the institutionalisation of the neologism of Bédié. “Ivoirité” was slipped into the constitution and the electoral law of C?te d’Ivoire, thereby barring Ouattara and any other person of “dubious origin” from having access to the highest office of country.

One of our lecturers, during our session on Child Soldiers, explained how, things in the field are different. He explained how many at times, these kids, even helped them navigate the dense forests in Liberia and Sierra Leone. That indeed, they have been hardened by the war life, but are, in dire circumstances, willing to work with peacekeepers, in preventing more recruitment. That most times, what is right, is politically wrong. And most times, politics wins the day.

Maybe that’s why, we’re still renewing our ‘Decade of Silencing the Guns’.

It is quite exciting, saddening and interesting, how the easiest way to start a war, is also the means to end it. Identity. The differences we see in our families, emulated in our day to day adult life, influence the decisions made. Even as leaders. Or Humanitarian. Because, how we were raised, is what we become. That is unless, we call ourselves to a meeting and change our habits, behaviour and eventually character.

But that is a story for another day.

Thank you for tuning in.

Until next time.