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Cote D'Ivoire Needs a Chocolate Revolution
Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko
U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, gave a prophetic
advice to Middle East leaders gathered in Qatar for the Forum of
the Future on January 12 that their regimes should adapt or die.
Reform or deform. A few days later, Ben Ali fell and, and scents
from the Jasmine Revolution filling the air of Egypt, with Hosni
Mubarak, misreading the mood and sacking his government and
promising to step down at a future date when the demand of the
masses are simply: ‘go and go now!’.
What is happening in the two Arab nations has been compared to
the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia in 1989 and its domino
effect in shredding to pieces the iron curtain, which led to the
collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe and the subsequent
dominance of multiparty democracy in both Europe and Africa.
But, what has been the nature of democracy in Africa and much of
the former communist bloc? The street protests in Tunisia and
Egypt have exposed something of which other African regimes
should take note: the farcical democracy that has defined
governance on our continent, particularly, since the 1990s.
Ramifications must not be limited to the Arab world. It must
extend to democratic mirages further down the Sahara.
Let it flow down the Nile, through the Niger, the mouth of
Bandama, meandering across the Volta, up and down the Limpopo,
the Kerio, the estuaries of the Congo, the Shangani, the Zambesi,
the Orange, and bursting the banks of democratic deficits that
keep Africans thirsty for accountability and real value for
votes.
This year alone, there are 26 scheduled elections in Africa; 19
of them presidential. How the Cote d’Ivoire crisis is resolved
will send a strong signal – either to the people or to
intransigent autocrats in false democratic rugs – about the
future course of democracy on our continent. Thus, the situation
in Cote d’Ivoire is bigger than its territorial significance to
the Ivorian people.
The critical point which appears to be lost on Africans from the
crisis in Tunisia and Egypt is what it exposes about democracy
in Africa. Galactic and freaky in both its intrinsic and
extrinsic value.
For example, last November-December, Egypt held parliamentary
elections that were boycotted by the Muslim Brotherhood because
it was seen as a big sham. Yet, the Americans were okay with it,
apparently, because it kept the ‘extremists’ at bay, and showed
that their man, Mubarak, was still in control.
It is this kind of farcical accommodation of de facto
dictatorship that strengthens the very groups and sentiments
which the West seeks to keep out of the governance process. It
wins so-called extremists public sympathy.
Egypt was, in any event, due to hold a presidential election
this year. The protests on the streets of Cairo and Alexandra
today tell us of how low the level of confidence that the people
have in the system of ‘democracy’ they have been forced to
endure all this while.
In Tunisia, Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali was ruling with a victory of
89.62 percent of the vote. The implausibility of that margin of
victory has been confirmed by the nature of his ‘premature’
demise.
The ouster of Tunisian de facto dictator Ben Ali and the
imminent ouster of his colleague Mubarak both hold a lesson for
authoritarian regimes and pseudo democratic regimes all over
Africa and the Middle East. Not even Gbagbo can keep a lid on
this populous pressure cooker – once it starts to boil…
“If leaders don't offer a positive vision and give young people
meaningful ways to contribute, others will fill the vacuum.
Extremist elements, terrorist groups and others who prey on
desperation and poverty are already out there, appealing for
allegiance and competing for influence,” Mrs Clinton said in
Qatar.
How does this apply to Laurent Gbagbo and the Ivorian crisis? If
a solution is not found quickly enough for Cote d’Ivoire the
rebels would strike and the consequences could be worse than the
application of a surgical legitimate force by international
forces.
Already, more people may have been killed in Cote d’Ivoire than
in the two North African countries put together; 260 people are
reported dead next door.
According to the UN, refugees fleeing to neighbouring Liberia
could top 100,000 by the end of April. Gbagbo loyalist forces
are alleged to be attacking civilians and UN convoys in Abidjan,
as well as ethnic strife in the west of the country, displacing
tens of thousands of people, with 32,000 fleeing to Liberia as
of the end of last week, according to a UN report.
In Addis Ababa earlier this week, the UN Secretary General
stressed the need for an early solution to the impasse
consistent with the will of the Ivorian people as expressed in
the November presidential run-off election, which Alassan
Ouattara won by a margin of more than 8 percentage points.
Earlier in December, I was interviewed by some local radio
stations, including Sky and Adom, where I suggested a
combination of protests-strikes and a global ban on the purchase
of Ivorian cocoa as some of the measures to be applied against
Gbagbo. Ouattara has been calling for just that and, the
economic squeeze, at least, appears to be biting.
The world can take a firmer decision on cocoa exports to
gradually but speedily deny Gbagbo the oxygen of remuneration
for the institutions that keep his intransigence fuelled.
But, the people of Cote d’Ivoire should also be proactive in
demonstrating their protests publicly like we have seen further
north. This current situation of no war, no peace, no government
is too dangerous and may end up costing more lives than a short,
sharp, shock of public revolt.
I call it a Chocolate Revolution. La Cote d’Ivoire needs it.
Africa needs it. The Ivorians should not fail us. The UN, AU and
ECOWAS can play their part by increasing the number of
peace-keepers/makers in the country to enhance the public sense
of security.
Let the international peacekeepers offer the striking masses
protection and let us see how many pro-Gbagbo civilians will
come out with a counter demonstration. How I pray that the
Molotovs of Mubarak’s violent counter demonstration burn him out
of office. For this strategy of his to succeed would be highly
counterproductive for Africa; only useful to the Gbagbos of a
discredited status quo.
Chocolate Revolution it must be.
Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko
The author is the Executive Director of the Danquah
Institute, a policy think tank.
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