Why did U.S. and French troops invade Ivory Coast?
By Monica Moorehead
The brutal legacy of colonialism and neo-colonialism
manifests itself in various ways in Africa. Take the present
situation in Ivory Coast, a former French colony.
A military coup erupted in this West African country of over
14 million people on Sept. 19. The media, including
allAfrica.com, report that rebel soldiers are attempting to
overturn the existing government headed by President Laurent
Gbagbo.
The rebels, according to the bourgeois media, are connected
to forces in the neighboring country of Burkina Faso. The
relations between these two countries have deteriorated over
the years. So far hundreds of people have been killed and
thousands have been made refugees during the coup.
The U.S. and French military have intervened in this crisis
using the pretext of "humanitarian" reasons. Wash ington sent
in Special Operations forces from Germany to evacuate U.S.
schoolchildren, whose parents are missionaries in Ivory Coast.
French troops moved quickly to reach the school before the U.S.
troops did, and then turned the children over to U.S. air
transport at the central airport.
France already had troops stationed in five of its former
colonies. They have evacuated hundreds of French citizens
living throughout Ivory Coast. This intervention on the part of
two imperialist countries begs the question of what role French
and U.S. imperialism play not only in West Africa but Africa as
a whole.
Role of U.S. and French imperialism
In the 19th century, French imperialism colonized more
African territory than any other of its European counterparts.
It maintains deep economic, military and administrative ties to
almost all its former colonies.
Like so much of Africa, Ivory Coast is rich in natural
resources, especially oil, natural gas, cocoa beans, and
coffee. Despite this abundance of resources, the per capita
income in 1996 was only $600.
During the Cold War against the socialist Soviet Union, U.S.
imperialism focused on its geo-strategic interests in Africa.
That time was also the high point of the national liberation
movements, which the USSR supported.
More recently Washington has tried to supplant French and
other imperialist interests in Africa. The U.S. has sent
Special Operations forces to East Africa because it wants to
stake a claim to untapped oil reserves in that region.
In 1997, the U.S., France and Britain, another colonizer of
Africa, signed a pact to coordinate "peace" in Africa. This
pact allows these imperialists to train indigenous soldiers
throughout Africa. These troops allow imperialist intervention
without the heavy presence of troops from the imperialist
countries themselves. Despite the pact, these imperialist
powers continually compete for hegemony in the region.
The U.S. and French governments care little about peace in
Africa. In fact, they care little about the social plight of
African people, the great majority of whom live on less than $2
a day and suffering greatly from the HIV/AIDS epidemic. It is
in the interests of imperialism to sow artificial divisions
among African peoples on the basis of religion, nationality and
land. This is the root cause of countless coups in Africa,
including the current one in Ivory Coast.
Washington has used many phony pretexts for military
intervention. These include the "evacuation" of U.S. medical
students in Grenada in 1983 and the collapse of the central
government in Somalia in the 1990s. It would not be surprising
if "rescuing the children of missionaries" turns out to be the
latest ploy to help lay the basis for further U.S. corporate
plunder in Africa.
Reprinted from the Oct. 10, 2002, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyrighted
under a Creative
Commons License.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
Subscribe to WW by Email: wwnews-subscribe@workersworld.net
Donate to
support pro-labor, anti-war news.
Email
this article
Printable
page