The best news from Ivory Coast in recent weeks is that there hasn't been much news. After French soldiers destroyed the pitiful Ivorian Air Force -- two aged jets and a few helicopters -- in a revenge rampage last month, it seemed the country was tipping into the type of civil war that Africa has seen too often: a nation tearing itself apart while a "peacekeeping" army of its former colonial masters waits benignly in the wings.
That depressing post-colonial cliche should not be applied to Ivory Coast -- despite the efforts of the lazier sections of the media.
When fighting broke out in the north of the country, against those opposed to President Laurent Gbagbo's government, the UK news headlines were unequivocal. "Ivory Coast descends into chaos" (the London Times) and "Paratroopers and tanks move in to quell Ivory Coast unrest" (Daily Telegraph) followed the bombings that killed nine French soldiers in early November.
As tensions rose and the French carried out "revenge" attacks, the bellicose coverage continued.
"We fled machete mobs," blared the London Sunday Times on Nov. 14 summoning up the dark heart of Africa for readers safely home in Britain.
So far, so bad. But of course the story didn't stop there. As France's peacekeeping turned sour, the Africa Union stepped in to reinvigorate the country's power-sharing and peace process. South Africa's president Thabo Mbeki travelled north on behalf of the union earlier this month, and was met by cheering crowds.
"We want to clear the way for a better life for everyone in Ivory Coast," Mbeki said, reported by the Associated Press. Here was a good news story, of African countries cooperating to solve the problems in their own backyard. After all the tales of looting, rape and murder, was this optimistic note sounded in the British press? Not a word.
When it comes to those countries of site for "peace breaks out" news is calorie-free. Even the announcement this month, that things had calmed down enough to allow France to withdraw 1,000 troops, did not make it into the papers.
Ivory Coast is a perfect example of the misrepresentation of Africa in the West's eyes. Other than the Ivorian footballers drafted into European teams, the country hardly rates a mention. Yet far from being an economic basketcase, Ivory Coast was one of the success stories of modern sub-Saharan Africa. Not only is it the world's major producer of cocoa, but besides South Africa it can boast the best infrastructure and most sophisticated economy on the continent.
Ivory Coast's post-independence growth followed a period of stability under its first president, the dictator Felix Houphouet-Boigny, since the country ceased to be a colony in 1960. But that stability has come under threat, as the grip of strong men such as Houphouet-Boigny and his successor Henri Bedie weakened.
Both men favored the predominantly Francophone and wealthy Christian south of the country, and were happy to allow France to retain its colonial prerogatives, dressed up as partnership, into the modern era.
That cosy pattern was disrupted in 1999, as the ham-fisted Bedie provoked deep unpopularity and was later deposed by the Ivorian army.
The coup appeared to herald a greater degree of democracy, especially in voting rights for the country's huge immigrant population and the status of their offspring.
The nationality issue had come to a head over the status of Alassane Ouattara, the talented technocrat who was barred from running in the 1995 presidential election by Bedie, on the grounds that he was a foreigner -- which Ouattara hotly disputes.
Stripped of his Ivorian citizenship in 1999, Ouattara is popular in the north of the country. That area has been in the hands of the New Forces rebels since 2002. It is a sign of the optimism following Mbeki's intervention that the painful issue of "Ivorianess" -- the xenophobic policy of populist nationalism -- may be resolved. But Gbagbo remains the key to any peace deal. So far he has proved adept at out-maneuvering the French.
Ironically, the French generally turned a blind eye to "Ivorianess" when it was deployed against political rivals such as Ouattara. But when Gbagbo's paramilitary supporters -- the appropriately named Young Patriots -- began targeting foreign French citizens, France became more violent. The result was French soldiers in Abidjan firing into an unarmed group of protesters early in November, killing some 50 to 60 civilians.
France initially denied the shootings, but eventually put the death toll at 20. In an echo of the 1958 Sakiet crisis -- when French bombers attacked a village in Tunisia said to be harboring Algerian guerrillas -- there are calls for international investigations into France's bloody reprisals. No wonder some have called Ivory Coast "France's little Iraq."
Meanwhile, the Africa Union has restarted the peace process, as the dregs of France's influence in Africa ebbs away. If all this good news keeps up, we may hear little more from Ivory Coast for years.
Two sets of economic data released last week by the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) have drawn mixed reactions from the public: One on the nation’s economic performance in the first quarter of the year and the other on Taiwan’s household wealth distribution in 2021. GDP growth for the first quarter was faster than expected, at 6.51 percent year-on-year, an acceleration from the previous quarter’s 4.93 percent and higher than the agency’s February estimate of 5.92 percent. It was also the highest growth since the second quarter of 2021, when the economy expanded 8.07 percent, DGBAS data showed. The growth
In the intricate ballet of geopolitics, names signify more than mere identification: They embody history, culture and sovereignty. The recent decision by China to refer to Arunachal Pradesh as “Tsang Nan” or South Tibet, and to rename Tibet as “Xizang,” is a strategic move that extends beyond cartography into the realm of diplomatic signaling. This op-ed explores the implications of these actions and India’s potential response. Names are potent symbols in international relations, encapsulating the essence of a nation’s stance on territorial disputes. China’s choice to rename regions within Indian territory is not merely a linguistic exercise, but a symbolic assertion
More than seven months into the armed conflict in Gaza, the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to take “immediate and effective measures” to protect Palestinians in Gaza from the risk of genocide following a case brought by South Africa regarding Israel’s breaches of the 1948 Genocide Convention. The international community, including Amnesty International, called for an immediate ceasefire by all parties to prevent further loss of civilian lives and to ensure access to life-saving aid. Several protests have been organized around the world, including at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) and many other universities in the US.
Every day since Oct. 7 last year, the world has watched an unprecedented wave of violence rain down on Israel and the occupied Palestinian Territories — more than 200 days of constant suffering and death in Gaza with just a seven-day pause. Many of us in the American expatriate community in Taiwan have been watching this tragedy unfold in horror. We know we are implicated with every US-made “dumb” bomb dropped on a civilian target and by the diplomatic cover our government gives to the Israeli government, which has only gotten more extreme with such impunity. Meantime, multicultural coalitions of US