LESSONS FROM THE IVORIAN COUP

By Tikum Mbah Azonga


This paper is an adaptation of an earlier one I delivered on the Cameroon National Radio Television Station on the 24th of September 2002, as a reflection on the crisis in the Ivory Coast that threatened to divide the country . The paper was one of the daily political commentaries I delivered on the 6.30 a.m. prime time national and world news on Cameroon Radio Television between 2002 and 2005.
-------------------------------------------------------

A little under a week after the bubble burst and blood flowed on the streets of Côte d’Ivoire, the dust has still not settled. Running battles continue. And so, what had worked like mere pockets of resistance are turning out to be a well orchestrated show of strength. There is no doubt that despite the flying in of French troops, avowedly to protect French nationals and other foreigners as well as the hurried return home from abroad by President Lawrence Gbagbo, the situation continues to be volatile and precarious. Yet in all of this, we must look introspectively in conformity with the saying that if your neighbour’s house catches fire, you must rush to yours and make sure it is safe.


One cannot help wondering how Cote d`Ivoire, a country with such a high profile, which had enjoyed peace and stability for so long could so easily have succumbed to such a rapid disintegration. However, a closer look indicates that there are reasons for that. For too long, the country lived under the shadow of one man, President Houphouet-Boigny who led the country to independence and ruled it with an iron fist single handed until his death in 1993. His succession was never well thought out, let alone prepared. In fact, it was a question the Ivorian evaded when asked about it, just like president Mobutu Sesse Seko Kuku Gbendu Waza Banga did in Zaire.


So when Houphouet-Boigny died, the ruling class was suddenly and unexpectedly beset by the twin problems of coping with the trauma of his exit and replacing him. Yet, in his life time, he had resisted stepping down, even for health reasons. The situation was different here in Cameroon where the first President Ahmadou Ahidjo had made known who would succeed him, a strategy that materialized when President Paul Biya took over in 1982 naturally. So, in Cameroon, there was change in continuity even if there has been a hiccup.


Contrary to Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire has hardly given its armed forces the importance they deserve. Perhaps for fear of a threat to his position, President Houphouet-Boigny opted for when he called a symbolic army. When he finally departed and a new president took over, other more pressing issues took up his time. To this day, the Ivorian army is said to have no elite unit or an air force worthy of the name. Even when the rebels struck last week, the regular army is said to have been unable to readily gain access to arms or ammunition, hence their running into troubled waters.
Here in Cameroon, our armed forces on the other hand have remained well maintained, serene, efficient, and disciplined, compared not only with their Ivorian counterparts but also those of many other African countries which this political commentator has visited. Unlike some other African armies, ours is kept busy even in peace times with day- to day activities, which is why among its ranks we have doctors, magistrates, translators, journalists, nurses, etc. Members of our armed forces whose numbers are boosted by the increasing number of graduates and women that swell their ranks, make the corps one of our country`s most outstanding institution, greatly admired by foreign visitors.


One point that stands out in the Ivorian crisis is their patchy national unity. It is because of this factor that Alassane Ouattara who had served unopposed as Prime Minister under Houphouet-Boigny was suddenly declared a `foreigner` not eligible for President. Here in Cameroon the policy by which the government posts civil servants to any part of the country has greatly helped in Cementing national unity because it allows people from different parts of the country to cohabit peacefully and consequently get to know each other better. In Africa, Cameroon has set an enviable example on that score.


The biggest lesson from the Ivorian crisis is that we in Cameroon have come a long way. Our own challenges lie in consolidating those gains.


Copyright 2011

FIRE BURNS IN COTE D`IVOIRE

By Tikum Mbah Azonga

This paper is an adaptation of an earlier one I delivered on the Cameroon Radio Television (CRTV) on the 7.30 prime time national radio news programme of the 17th of November 2004. This paper was one of hundreds of political chronicles I delivered on the news programme from 2002 to 2005. It was motivated by the imposition of by part of the international committee, of sanctions on the warring factions of Cote d`Ivoire at that time.
___________________________________________

The arms embargo was in a way, a last resort, for several other attempts aimed at quenching the figurative fire burning in Côte d`Ivoire had failed. Among these were efforts made at the international level, with France, playing a major role, at getting together the warring factions, that is, President Laurent Gbagbo and the break way group.

The embargo bans the entry of arms into Côte D’Ivoire for thirteen months. This means that neither President Gbagbo nor the rebels, as they have come to be known, can arm or re-arm themselves with imported weapons. Worse for Gbagbo is his inability to rebuild the air fleet that was destroyed by French military fire recently. The 46 000 –strong troops in Côte D׳Ivoire inflicted this setback on Gbagbo’s forces in retaliation for the killing of nine French soldiers by Ivorians angry about the presence of French troops on their soil. Gbagbo himself has accused France of seeking to bring about a coup d’état.


The crisis has done a lot of damage to Côte D’Ivoire, West Africa’s second largest economy and the world’s largest cocoa producer. The African Development Bank, a multi billion dollar multinational firm, has had to move its headquarters from Abidjan to Tunis in Tunisia. The civil war has cost lives and property and led to exodus into neighboring countries as well as displacements internally. The country is torn apart by lawlessness, crime, disease and insecurity. In all of this, the rebels have accused Gbagbo of flouting the terms of the power sharing government they went into and of discriminating against the predominantly Muslim North.

Obviously, it is not hard to see that one strong force Côte D’Ivoire needs as it grapples with these first time problems and struggles to rebuild its base, is national unity. The political foundation is weak and wobbly and the powers that be do not know how to hold it together. If that is not thee case, how does one explain how Laurent Gbagbo who only some years ago attended the convention of Cameroon’s main opposition party, the SDF here in Yaoundé, as Opposition Leader in Cote d`Ivoire, went on to become the president of his country but now finds power to be too much of a hot potato on his hands? Surely, such a state of affairs proves that having power is not enough; it is also to necessary to know how to wield it, otherwise it becomes another Frankenstein, or a monster of ones own making, that devours its creator.

Whatever is the case, Côte D’Ivoire is a reminder for Cameroonians to guard jealously the peace that reigns in their country. So, it is worth remembering that without peace, nothing works. As a result, let peace continue to be rated highly by Cameroonians.

Copyright 2011.