Hard on the heels of the so-called
“humanitarian intervention” in Libya, European imperialists are
again making a mockery of African sovereignty, this time in the Ivory
Coast. On April 4 French forces spearheaded an attack on the
residence of Laurent Gbagbo, head of one of two factions, each of
which claims leadership of the nation.
Using the thin veneer of “protecting”
civilians, the French, backed by United Nations “peacekeepers,”
have also attacked various strong points held by Gbagbo’s
loyalists, targeting in particular artillery and other heavy
weaponry. This has been accompanied by the stationing of 1,500 French
troops in Ivory Coast.
Under this pressure, a cease-fire was
declared as of April 5, with France dictating terms to Gbagbo,
demanding his surrender, departure and recognition of his opponent
Alassane Outtara.
The political crisis in the Ivory Coast
began earlier this year when presidential elections delivered a
disputed result. On one side is the incumbent President Gbagbo, who
ruled over the rump Ivory Coast government during the civil war in
the early part of the decade. On the other is Outtara, a former prime
minister and International Monetary Fund economist whose strongest
base of support is in the former “rebel” zone in the north of the
country.
While there are many complex issues
involved, at base the conflict between the two camps centers on a
scramble to control the country’s economic resources. Under the
government of Felix Houphouët-Boigny, Ivory Coast was the
poster-child for capitalist development in Africa, with large profits
flowing from cocoa, of which Ivory Coast is the world’s largest
producer. Houphouët-Boigny was adept at using patronage to play the
elites of various ethnic and religious groups against each other.
After his death in 1993, there has been competition among these
formerly loosely united factions over control of the Ivorian state,
and thus its resources.
Gbagbo represents a more
“nationalistic” bourgeoisie. He and his supporters resent French
neo-colonial meddling, and seek a more independent path of capitalist
development. Gbagbo has used anti-French sentiment as a prop to his
regime. He gets significant support from the Young Patriots, a
populist anti-French militia, which is based mostly in Abidjan, the
country’s largest city.
Outtara has emerged as the favorite of
Western imperialists. As prime minister in the early 1990s, Outtara
helped oversee the imposition of IMF “structural adjustment”
policies on the Ivory Coast. The full-throated support from France
and the United States is a clear signal that Western imperialist
powers view Outtara as much more amenable to their continued
neo-colonial control over this economically strategic West African
nation.
Forces loyal to both sides have been
clashing recently, mostly in the west of the country. Outtara’s
forces have consistently claimed imminent victory for the past
several days. Victory has, however, been far from certain as Gbagbo
has marshaled his forces, and so France, with the United Nations in
tow, forcefully intervened Monday.
Their claims to be protecting citizens
are utterly cynical. What do air attacks on the presidential
residence have to do with a “humanitarian protection” mission?
Who can believe that President Sarkozy is truly concerned with the
well being of the Ivorian masses? This is the same Sarkozy who
launched a vicious, racist campaign against the oppressed Roma
people, who advocates fascist-style policing methods amongst France’s
immigrant communities, and who has launched a brutal assault on the
living standards of the French working class.
In reality, this is another in a long
line of tawdry episodes by French neo-colonialists in their former
colonies. This is a clear message to the rulers of France’s former
colonies: Do not forget, in the final analysis
your policies are determined not in your national capitals but in the
Élysée Palace.
With French troops patrolling the
streets and skies over Abidjan, any agreement ending the conflict is
a total sham. This intervention is nothing more than an attempt by
French imperialists, with moral support from the United States, to
reassert their total control over the continent of Africa—first in
Libya, now in Ivory Coast. The new war drive in Africa must be
strenuously opposed by progressives and revolutionaries the world
over.
French/U.N. troops out of Ivory
Coast!
Imperialist hands OFF Ivory Coast!
