IVORY COAST
Coup follows revolt of unpaid soldiers
By Johnnie
Stevens
A coup in the Ivory Coast (Cote d' Ivoire) has put a
spotlight on the deep class and social tensions in West Africa
that can break out even in a country said to be relatively
stable and prosperous. The U.S., France and the African
bourgeois administration of the Ivory Coast all took blows.
It began on Dec. 24 when soldiers demanded unpaid back wages
for their "peacekeeping" mission in the West African nations of
Liberia and Sierra Leone. Peacekeeping forces, usually under
the command of the United Nations, are a new and subtler form
of imperialist intervention by the powers dominating that world
body.
The soldiers took to the streets of Abidjan, the capital
city of three million, seizing luxury cars and shooting into
the air. This toppled the government of President Henri Bedie,
who fled to the French garrison and then into exile.
The Ivory Coast is a former French colony with a population
of 19 million that won its independence in 1960 but continues
to be a source of wealth for French imperialism. It is the
world's largest cocoa producer and also exports palm oil. Other
resources include coffee, bananas and enough petroleum to
satisfy its internal needs. Politically, it is viewed as the
cornerstone of France's relations with its former African
colonies. Twenty-two thousand French nationals live in
Abidjan.
The Ivory Coast has suffered many hardships over the past
decade, partly due to the civil wars in neighboring Liberia and
Sierra Leone. Thousands of refugees crossed the border fleeing
for their lives or looking for work.
In addition, prices for Ivory Coast exports have been
falling. The international capitalist market favors the
industrialized imperialist countries, in whose currencies trade
is conducted. A worker may sweat all day in the hot sun for a
dollar or two in a country like the Ivory Coast, where the
economy has been controlled for generations by foreign banks
and businesses. To add insult to injury, the International
Monetary Fund has taken advantage of Ivory Coast's trade crunch
by making new demands on the government and the people as a
condition for continued loans. The European Union has also
suspended aid, charging corruption.
French TV Channel II reported that the soldiers, after
taking over the Abidjan TV and radio stations, then called upon
Gen. Robert Guei to come out of retirement and be their
spokesperson. Gen. Guei said that unpaid salaries were just one
of many complaints the soldiers have. After their return home
they faced harsh living conditions as well as insufficient
jobs, no benefits, lack of housing and subsidies.
Gen. Guei also said that President Henri Bedie had no money
to pay the soldiers because the United States hasn't paid its
dues to the United Nations.
The UN oversees the Economic Community of West African
States (ECOWAS), which sponsors the peacekeeping mission.
ECOWAS members include Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Gambia,
Ghana, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leone,
Togo, Guinea-Bissau and Nigeria, which leads ECOWAS. They
include some of the poorest countries in the world.
For the ECOWAS nations, sending their children and family
members to war is a way to get jobs and education. It's not
that much different than Fort Stewart, Ga., a U.S. rapid
deployment base. Some 100,000 soldiers were sent from Fort
Stewart to Somalia and Iraq. These soldiers joined the army in
hope of a better life, college loans, housing and health care.
But many of them faced unemployment and no benefits after they
returned to the U.S.
Former Chief of Staff Guei has now declared himself the new
president of the Ivory Coast. Guei said that the troops had
called on him after talks with Bedie broke down. The soldiers
said that more than 19,000 troops backed their cause.
After announcing the coup d'etat, the soldiers went to the
prison and released political prisoners. Seven of those
released were officials of the opposition Republican Daily
Party, whose leader, Alassanse Quattara, was an IMF official
until he resigned last summer to run for president. Guei asked
that the international community not cut services and pledged
to make debt payments to the IMF and draft a new
constitution.
On Dec. 26 France, which has had an aggressively
interventionist policy in Africa, said it wanted to send a
small number of troops to the country to protect the deposed
president and French nationals. Gen. Guei refused entry to the
French reinforcements, saying in an interview with the French
press agency AFP that the 550 French troops already stationed
at Copale airport in Abidjan were sufficient.
The attitude of the U.S., which has been in a now open, now
concealed struggle with France for hegemony in Africa, is
ambiguous toward the coup. The U.S. Embassy in Abidjan warned
Americans to lock themselves in their homes, saying "looters"
were going through the wealthy neighborhoods where foreigners
live. An embassy official, speaking on condition of anonymity,
cautiously praised Gen. Guei for "making the right noises," but
said the U.S. would continue to push for "constitutional rule
and democracy," which usually means an opening for political
forces favorable to Washington and Wall Street.
Abidjan, the capital, looks much like a French city. There
are luxury hotels, nightclubs and restaurants. French sun
worshippers vacation-hop around via Air France to sites
throughout West Africa.
The French nationals occupy the better jobs, have the nicest
homes and receive the best health care, which is unavailable to
the indigenous African population. A permanent French garrison
is a reminder of imperialist arrogance and racism, which former
President Houphouet-Boigny tolerated with his policy of
"assimilationism."
The start of the insurgency by the soldiers may have been
spontaneous, but the underlying social needs of the masses
throughout West Africa have been clearly exposed, revealing the
class antagonisms among the different forces: the
worker-soldiers, the bourgeoisie, the political apparatus and
the imperialist powers.
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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