Abidjan — On Wednesday in Abidjan, tens of thousands of people turned out in the streets of the economic capital of Cote d'Ivoire -- and the country's main metropolis -- in support of the government of President Laurent Gbagbo. There was another smaller protest against the rebel insurgency on Saturday. The pro-government rallies followed a series of anti-Gbagbo and pro-rebel marches in the central city of Bouake and other areas controlled by dissident forces, who staged an attempted coup in Cote d'Ivoire on 19 September.
The tone of the marchers, almost all of who wore rosettes in the national flag colours, pinned to their chests, caps and anywhere they could put them, was distinctly nationalistic. The talk was of war and of how Ivorians of all ages are willing to pick up weapons and march to the front, to take back cities captured by the rebels and to 'liberate' their compatriots.
But perhaps not quite everyone in Cote d'Ivoire is willing to go to the battlefront. Some appear to want to limit their efforts to patriotic chic. Chic patriotism, Ivorian style, goes as far as smartly dressed working women, placing their rosettes on the zipper pulls of smart handbags, as they hail taxis in busy downtown Abidjan. Others wear orange, white and green posies in immaculately coiffed hair.
As allAfrica's correspondent, Ofeibea Quist-Arcton, landed at Abidjan International Airport, she immediately spotted this show or national pride -- known in Cote d'Ivoire as 'ivoirite' or (Ivorian identity) -- from almost everyone, from baggage handlers to airline ground staff and those seeing off or welcoming passengers.
The only topic of conversation is the conflict -- in all its complicated layers. From the rebels to the government, to regional mediation efforts by the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) and the position of the French, which has sent troops and military logistical assistance, this is overwhelmingly the talk of the town.
And of course the protagonists, in what has become Cote d'Ivoire's most bloody and sustained rebellion in 42 years of independence, are once again dividing the nation. Current and former leaders -- and their political records -- are under the microscope, being closely scrutinized.
In every breath the name President Laurent Gbagbo is mentioned.
With every other breath, it's the late General Robert Guei, the military coup leader who failed to steal presidential elections in 2000 and was driven out of town and office by a popular revolution. He was killed on the first day of the 19 September coup bid, after being accused by the authorities of being behind it.
And of course there's Cote d'Ivoire's ex-President, Henri Konan Bedie, who was toppled from power by Guei in the country's first ever coup in December 1999.
Gbagbo's supporters maintain he is a democratically elected leader and deserves the support of all patriotic Ivorians. And they are furious that the main opposition leader and former prime minister, Alassane Dramane Ouattara, has taken refuge in the French Embassy in Abidjan. Many blame him for the current conflict. Ouattara's name, or ADO as he is called by his supporters, is on everyone's lips and much of the talk is hostile.
"If he says he is an Ivorian," complain Ouattara's critics, "why doesn't he come out of hiding and show that he is a true Ivorian and that he supports the government and is not backing the rebels?" Ouattara's nationality has been the focal point of a long and bitter row that has split the country along ethnic, religious and political lines.
Ouattara was barred from standing in the 2000 presidential poll, because of lingering questions about which country he belonged to. Those opposed to the opposition leader say he is from Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire's neighbour to the north, which has been fingered obliquely by Gbagbo's government in the current crisis.
With this backdrop, Ofeibea Quist-Arcton gathered together five men who took part in Wednesday's march, to get their views on the situation in Cote d'Ivoire. Joel is a sound engineer and music impresario. Tiote is a driver for Gbagbo's governing Popular Front party (FPI ). Marcelin, a sound technician and Octave, in technical services, both work at the presidency. Ange-Christian, works in the hotel business. They all had plenty to say.
Excerpts follow.
Gentlemen, you all marched on Wednesday in Abidjan, why and who for or against whom or what?
We marched from Martyrs Square to Republic Square. We marched to protest specifically against the foreign media; because -- and here I refer especially to TV5 -- the images they are showing all over the world aren't pictures of Ivorians and don't reflect the feelings of Ivorians. These are not Ivorians they showing around the world.
Which television pictures are you talking about and who are you saying feature in these images?
The pictures they showed of (rebel held) Bouake are not pictures of Ivorians. Ivorians don't behave like that. I'm talking about the TV pictures that they shot in Bouake, during a demonstration opposed to President Laurent Gbagbo. Those who were chanting 'Gbagbo thief, Gbagbo liar' were not Ivorians, they were foreigners. People must clearly understand that. Now those are some of the reasons why we marched.
We want President Gbagbo to know that we are right behind him. We support him. That's why we joined the march (on Wednesday).
And we all came out to march -- especially the youth, but other people too, to tell Gbagbo and his government that we are behind him, we are behind the whole government. We have confidence in him, we are right there behind him and we are asking all those who have interests and any interest in Cote d'Ivoire to choose the right side, Gbagbo's side, the side of the republic.
The march started at about 7am at Koumassi, where all the youth gathered together. From about 8am to 2pm, the youth assembled together to march.
And what about you, what were you reasons for joining the march?
Well we were marching in support of the loyalist soldiers, Ivorian soldiers. We are behind those loyalist forces who have gone to Bouake, Korhogo and elsewhere, to liberate these cities.
What concerns us most in Cote d'Ivoire is that these foreigners, even though they are living on someone else's territory, want to own this country. We will not accept that in Cote d'Ivoire, we don't want that. If you want to be the proprietor, go back home and be the proprietor there. Not here.
Who are you talking about?
I'm talking about Alassane (Dramane Ouattara). He is the one backing the rebels, the attackers at the moment. So we must close down his party, the RDR.
And for you Sir, what is all this about?
It's about interests. After (former President Felix) Houphouet Boigny died, he left a lot of people running after the title of president. And, over here, being president means you sit at the presidency and you 'eat' all the money. In the past, those who have become president have never done anything for the people. All they have done is take the money and send it to banks in Europe. And I say the people are suffering, suffering and nobody cares about them.
Now, for the very first time, somebody has come -- and I'm talking about President Gbagbo -- who is taking care of his people. They don't want him to work because everybody knows that he is ready to work for his people. It's because of the people that he became president. It's just because they are jealous of his work. That's the only reason they don't want him to continue his work. There will be shame on them, because they haven't done anything for the people.
Who do you think these rebels, this mutineers are?
The rebels, most of them come from abroad. Sierra Leone, Mali, Burkina Faso and Liberia. The mutineers, most of them are Ivorian, because we know where they come from and we know the reason why they are doing what they're doing.
And what are those reasons?
They say that they want to stay in the army because, in Ivory Coast, when President Guei took power and became president, he had to recruit so many people to create his special force. And President Guei thought he was going to stay on after the transition and become president for five years. So he needed a special force to protect him. That's the reason why he called those people to join the military. They were supposed to stay in the army for two years and, after that, become his private guard.
President Guei didn't become president, so when Gbagbo came, he decided that after two years those guys had to leave the army. That's the reason why they are angry.
So, what do you think is going to happen in Cote d'Ivoire now?
Nothing. Cote d'Ivoire has been blessed by God. What's happened right now, from what I've heard, the reason why the Ivorian army hasn't attacked yet is because they got slowed down by the French military. But I have confidence in our army. I know they are well trained and they will get over any situation. The French just need to give us some time to fight, that's all.
Tiote, what about you? How do you think this situation can be resolved in Cote d'Ivoire?
To resolve this situation, there can't be any half measures. We have to throw ourselves into it, propel ourselves into the situation. The loyalist forces must just throw themselves into the fray, that's the only way.
Let me tell you, I'm from the North, from up there in the northwest. And I'm also a Muslim. But I don't agree with what my people up there are doing. Let's be clear about that.
Our country is 42 years old, since independence. (Felix) Houphouet-Boigny led this country for 30 years. (Henri Konan) Bedie came in next for 7 years. Then Guei came in after a coup d'etat in 1999. But the one who came into power through a democratic ballot (Gbagbo), there's no need to stage a coup d'etat against him!
Everything was working well for us here in Cote d'Ivoire. Since January 2002, everything has worked. But let me tell you what the problem is. The people from the north, they are the ones that monopolise commerce, business. They control everything and nobody bothers them about it.
Now these people from the north, Muslims, initially didn't send their children to school, because they went into business. But that has changed and now they send their children to school.
But the people from the south, west and east -- they are the ones who put their children in school. So, they are the ones who should be our leaders.
And let me tell you something else, we the Muslims shouldn't be interested in leadership. It's just not worth it.
Not worth what?
You know, the behaviour of the people from the north, the way they are, the Muslim people -- the Malinke -- the way they behave isn't what the Koran dictates. A Muslim must be tolerant. But in the north, they are not tolerant.
I don't know whether it's because they share a border with Burkina Faso and Mali, that they're getting so excitable. But for Muslims, Islam demands tolerance. When you talk about Islam, you talk about tolerance.
What we witnessed on 19 September, the way they were attacking people, no, that's not what it's all about the way they attacked people. I have to tell you, honestly, I deplore that sort of behaviour instead of waiting to see how the situation would evolve, and to start attacking people, no.
But those images that TV5 has been broadcasting, all over the world, they are not Ivorians. Those foreigners who were born in Cote d'Ivoire, who want to own our land -- those are the ones who were recruited in Bouake, and I'll tell you where -- in Dar es Salaam, near the abattoir -- where there are lots of foreigners. And that's where they recruited the young Malians, the young Burkinabe and the young Guineans.
And here in Abidjan, the people who are the most hot under the collar, those who are with Alassane Dramane Ouattara -- Ouattara the Mossi (main ethnic group in Burkina Faso) -- are the Malians, the Guineans, the Burkinabe and the Sierra Leoneans and the Liberians -- the Liberians are the mercenaries.
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But those who are with Alassane Dramane Ouattara -- Mossi Dramane -- they are foreigners. There isn't one Ivorian. Check his staff, there are no Ivorians in it. The few Ivorians who are members of his staff, I don't know hoe he managed to convince them to join him.
What do you say to those who accuse Ivorians of being xenophobic?
You've just flown in from Johannesburg. I invite you to my house for a meal, you come, then you want to leave with my wife. Well, in that case, of course I'm 'xenophobic,' I have to be. My wife prepares something for us to eat, I call you to come and eat with us, but then you want to leave with my wife and the dishes, then I have to complain about that.
Houphouet Boigny went to look for these people to come to Cote d'Ivoire and work on the (cocoa) plantations. We were kind enough to give them some land each, so that they could all benefit as well. But in the final analysis, they want to throw us out.
Look here, see this scar. It comes from a wound inflicted on me, with a knife, by a Burkinabe in my father's plantation in Gagnoa. And why? Because he wanted to take more land than had been allocated to him and I tried to deal with it. And look what happened?
That's why they call us xenophobic. You must check with the other groups of foreigners -- the Lebanese, the French, the Togolese, the people from Niger, the Nigerians, ask all of them. They will tell you that Ivorians are not xenophobic.
'Garba' -- they are the ones that sell attieke (cassava based staple food), it's the people from Niger who sell that, even if you don't traditionally find attieke in Niger. Wood -- that's the Hausa and the Zamarama. The itinerant coffee and tea sellers, they are all from Guinea. Shops belong to Mauritanians.
Fishing, or bozo as we call it here, those are the Malians. And when the government decided to train our brothers in fishing, when the Ivorians start to try to fish, they were killed in the Tabou area. That's where the Malian bozos killed our brothers.
What I'm trying to say is that everything that has to do with trading, the foreigners control it. They ware the traders and the business people, they control commerce here in Cote d'Ivoire. And we don't complain about it.
Joel: The problem is when they try to get involved in politics. When you look at it, they have done pretty well and benefitted from the largesse of Cote d'Ivoire. But things started getting bad, when they poked their noses into politics. They started taking political positions that went against Ivorians. But for 40-42 years, we lived with side by side with them at close quarters and in harmony with the foreigners.
But when they started getting involved in politics, well that was a shock, totally unexpected. Take me for example, for years I lived outside Cote d'Ivoire, but it never occurred to me to get involved in their politics or to interest myself in the politics of whatever country I was living in. The same went for all the foreigners I knew.
It's only here in Cote d'Ivoire that foreigners think they can get involved in the internal politics. Cote d'Ivoire is the only country where this happens and it's not right.
