The Ivory Coast was rarely in the news until nine years ago, when its autocratic president, Felix Houphouet-Boigny, died. The reason for this low profile was that the country was rather boringly stable. The capital Abidjan provided the headquarters of the African Investment Bank, an important distributor of seminal project finance through the continent. It was always a busy, prosperous town as befitted a country with the fourth largest sub-Saharan economy. It was probably a reflection of this steady and comfortable progress that the French military chose the Ivory Coast as the main location for their low-profile presence in this part of their old colonial empire.
All of this changed dramatically in the middle of September when rebellion broke out, centered in the north of the country. After a series of confused reports, it is still not clear who the rebels are or what it is that they want. First indications that the rebellion had collapsed proved incorrect and, indeed, in the past 24 hours, it seems that the rebels may be expanding their control with the capture of further northern towns.
The genesis of the rebellion may, however, be guessed at by the alarming reaction of the Ivorian government. It was one of the defining characteristics of the administration of President Houphouet-Boigny that foreigners from around the Ivory Coast’s borders were welcomed with open arms. And as so often happens when a country welcome outsiders, cultural and economic vigor was boosted.
The Ivory Coast has limited natural resources, but its reputation as an entrepot center lay at the heart of its success. The sharp-suited African Investment Bank officials from all over the continent were mirrored by at least five million foreigners, the great majority of them blacks from neighboring states.
In the last nine years, since Houphouet-Boigny’s passing, the old tolerance has broken down. Persecution of Ivorian Muslims in the north of the country was accompanied by rising tension among foreign shopkeepers and businessmen and among the camps around the capital where many of the foreigners lived. The reaction to the rebellion, which has been blamed on foreigners, has been extremely disturbing. There are credible reports of groups of foreigners being rounded up onto trucks and driven away, possibly for beating or murder. Their whereabouts has yet to be discovered. The upshot of this unfolding tragedy is that ECOWAS troops from neighboring countries are likely to find themselves in an ambivalent position, if they are called in to defend the government from the rebels, who may be made up of some of their own nationals. There also appears to be some hesitation by the French about the predicament of the bigoted Ivorian government.
What seems to have happened is that President Laurent Gbagbo’s administration has helped create and then exploit racial tensions which a decade ago were hardly evident. Xenophobic policies often prove highly popular in the short term but African history shows that, in time, they lead to more extensive social breakdown within the country’s own citizens. The tragedy is that one of Africa’s earliest and most successful rainbow nations is now on the road to ruin. The genie of racial hatred has been unleashed and is unlikely to be recaptured.
