Cote d’Ivoire’s
cultural divide
By Sun News Publishing
Tuesday, July 20, 2004
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•President
Laurent Gbagbo
Photo by Sun News Publishing |
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A singing rebel soldier playing the kora, an African harp,
in the north of Cote d’Ivoire highlights the deep divisions
in what was once West Africa's richest country.
Split for nearly two years between the rebel-held north and
government-controlled south, Cote d’Ivoire is not only
divided along political lines but cultural lines too.
A series of laws intended to heal these divisions are being
debated throughout July in the national assembly, in particular
northern concerns about the right to own land and the issue
of nationality.
But the serenading rebel guard I saw at a checkpoint near
the Mali border seems to drive home the point that the north
of Ivory Coast arguably has closer ethnic and cultural links
with the countries to its north than it does with southern
Cote d’Ivoire Xenophobia
The solider sang in the fashion of a griot - the oral historian
and praise singer found throughout West Africa - whose social
role is never more important than in Mali and neighbouring
Guinea.
He sang softly in Dioula, the main language of the north of
Cote d’Ivoire
Dioula hails from the same linguistic family as Bambara, the
principal language in Mali, and Malinke, which is widely spoken
in north-eastern Guinea.
The rebel New Forces movement that took control of the north
in September 2002 goal has political objectives, but its composition
is also undeniably ethnic.
They are largely made up of Dioulas and Senoufos, representatives
of the two major ethnic groups in the north, who rallied to
the rebel cause because they feel northerners have been discriminated
against in
Ivorian politics.
In the mid 1990s the Cote d’Ivoire Democratic Party
(PDCI), which held power from independence in 1960 to 1999,
popularised the concept of Ivoirite or Ivorianness.
It was an ideology seen by many as xenophobic and those with
northern names or origins were frequently accused of not being
Ivorian.
Infuriated
In 2000, the leader of the Rally of Republicans (RDR) party,
Alassane Ouattara, a Dioula, was stopped from standing in
presidential elections, after doubts were raised about his
nationality.
It was claimed that both his parents were not Ivorian, ruling
him out of being a presidential candidate.
RDR supporters were infuriated by that decision, and northerners
say they have had many other grounds for complaint in the
last 10 years.
There have been numerous cases of northerners in Abidjan suffering
serious human rights abuses.
The latest case in point was the banned opposition demonstration
scheduled for 25 March of this year.
A United Nations report claimed at least 120 people were killed
in an operation "meticulously planned" by "the
highest authorities of state".
People were killed over a three-day period, the report said,
and often on grounds of ethnic or national origin.
Most of those killed were northerners.
Sticking point
It is just those sorts of abuses that the New Forces say they
are fighting against.
Two months ago it seemed as if the former rebels might declare
the north independent.
But New Forces leader Guillaume Soro vetoed the suggestion
and insisted Cote d’Ivoire was one and indivisible,
a strange statement from a man who had annexed more than half
of the country's land.
And now many of the New Forces' complaints are being discussed
in the National Assembly.
All sides of the crisis have agreed to vote in the laws by
28 July at the latest, or there will be an extraordinary session
of parliament to finish the job.
However, who can stand for president - the famous article
35 of the constitution - appears to be a real sticking point.
It is this point of law that stopped Mr Ouattara from running
for office in the 2000 presidential elections.
President Laurent Gbagbo and his Ivorian Popular Front (FPI)
party say they will only countenance debate and a referendum
on article 35 once the country is reunited.
That implies the former rebels disarming, and the state regaining
control of the north.
The New Forces say they will only disarm once article 35 has
been amended.
Until this stalemate has been resolved, it is impossible to
see Cote d’Ivoire dragging itself out of its current
crisis.
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