In rural Zimbabwe, community health clubs have been set up to change health behaviour and increase demand for better sanitation. A study of the clubs' impact suggests that they have helped to change up to 17 key hygiene practices. This approach could now be replicated in other countries.

An online boycott of “Ezi Mozo,” an Egyptian juice manufacturer, whose TV ads on many Mideast channels featured close-ups of young women dancing provocatively and seductively whispering the product’s name, is just one of the growing number of Arabic-language online boycotts. For years there have been Arabic-language Web sites discussing current events and issues, but the effective use of economic boycotts in the Arab world is relatively new.

Renewable energies can go a long way toward helping deliver electricity in developing countries, a United Nations official said. Tapping into green energy sources more can boost both development and the environment, UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Jos Antonio Ocampo said.

A UK government programme has warned that animal diseases will pose a growing threat in Africa unless the continent's health and veterinary services are significantly improved. The warning came yesterday (26 April) in a study by the Foresight programme, set up to advise the government on risks that emerging diseases could pose to people, animals and plants over the next 25 years.

Amnesty International today (2 May) called on the Ethiopian government to release immediately and unconditionally several opposition Members of Parliament-elect, human rights defenders and journalists whose treason trial begins today, saying that they are "prisoners of conscience who have not used or advocated violence."

A teenage Somali boy has stabbed to death his father's killer in a public execution ordered by an Islamic court. Large crowds gathered at a Koranic school in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, to watch Mohamed Moallim, 16, stab Omar Hussein in the head and throat. Hussein had been convicted of killing the boy's father, Sheikh Osman Moallim, after a row about Mohamed's education. Islamic courts have brought a semblance of order to Mogadishu, imposing Sharia law after years of rule by warlords. However there is some opposition to the courts.

This handbook was developed to provide a holistic regional resource package for capacity building of Non-Formal Education personnel in Africa. The main objective is to build the capacities of facilitators and other literacy and non-formal education personnel to promote learning and development at the community level. It aims at developing their skills and knowledge in literacy training, while sensitising them to issues that are at the very heart of adult literacy and education in Africa.

Six donor countries have granted 39 million US dollars to support education development in Mozambique and the sector's second strategic plan. A memorandum to that effect was signed in Maputo on Tuesday by Education Minister Aires Aly and Dutch Ambassador Lidi Remmelzwaal, on behalf of the six donor countries - namely Holland, Canada, Ireland, Britain, Germany, and Finland. Speaking shortly after the signing ceremony, Remmelzwaal said that this sum will be increased to 50 million US dollars in 2007.

I would like to comment on the Charles Taylor issue. I am a Zimbabwean.

According to my understanding, of which I stand to be corrected, Charles Taylor negotiated with the mediator Obasanjo (of Nigeria). Taylor decided to exchange his pride of being a president with exile. He stepped down to save many lives. It is important to honour set agreements, since it affects other nations.

The following points are worthy noting:

AU negotiators do not stick by their promises for peace. Obasanjo betrayed Taylor. He is supposed to have protected Taylor to maintain his promise for the good of peace. If Taylor had not chosen to step down, he could still be president and many people would be dead by now. He chose to save many lives and for such a bold move, he has to be protected. Its more difficult for any other President or dictator in Africa to step down under same conditions as Taylor, since protection is not guaranteed. If I were a dictator, and Obasanjo came for negotiations, I wouldn’t step down. I would rather protect my life and let other people die than ending up in Taylor's situation. I strongly feel that injustice has been done to this dictator. I know that he was a dictator. I am convinced that he caused serious sufferings to the people of Liberia, but please note that he decided to step down to stop further suffering.

It’s now very difficult for any dictator to trust the AU.

NGOs can nominate one person to represent them at the civil society meetings. The application form is due on May 5 and can only be submitted online.

The crowd at Cody's, Berkeley's legendary bookshop, is multicolored in every way – skin, clothing, headgear. On this Saturday night, over 100 people have filled the upstairs space to see and hear Wole Soyinka read from his new memoir: "You Must Set Forth At Dawn." The chairs are all taken. People stand at the back, pressed up against display tables and bookshelves.

When Soyinka enters the room, his trademark shock of white hair moves like a beacon to the podium. At 70 years old, he has been through gruelling physical trials, including 22 months in solitary confinement under the Abacha regime. He's on a book tour so jam-packed with interviews, readings, signings, speaking engagements, it would exhaust a 25-year old. And even more tiring, one would imagine, is the recurrence of the same questions, over and over, at every appearance:

What do you think about the conflict over oil in Nigeria?
Is there hope for democracy in Nigeria? In Africa?
What are the responsibilities of The African Writer?
What Can We Do About Darfur?

Also recurrent in every audience: the self-important windbags who don't even have a question. Who simply want to trumpet their nanosecond of African Experience:

"I was in Ghana in the Peace Corps in 1972..."

"I visited your country in 1981 and I was told it was a very dangerous place for Americans…"

Yet, he fields them all. With grace, humor, energy, presence, attention. Stays awake. Stays engaged. Stays responsive.

Tonight, he reads an excerpt that describes his departure from Nigeria, 10 years ago, by "shall we say, an unorthodox route". A 10-hour journey by pillion on the back of a motorbike, through bush and forest via smugglers' routes, across the border. He describes the very real physical dangers and hardships: branches slashing his face in pitch darkness, risk of capture; then renders them surreal with an equally vivid evocation of the two fantasies clung to throughout the journey: a long, cold shower, followed by a long, cold beer.

His firm resonant actor's voice reminds us of his decades in theatre. It has an unhurried, hypnotic quality that redeems his frequently-rambling, verbose sentences that can seem clunky and tedious on the page. He draws out syllables, "agonized in-ten-si-ty"; aerates the prose with pauses, visibly savours the memories his words conjure up for him. "I'll sing the praises of whatever brings me solace."

So a terrifying flight into exile also becomes an ode to beer, an adventure story. The passage could be a metaphor for Soyinka's own life and work, marked by his capacity to hymn the tiny comforts of life, the minutiae of human longings, as a defiant counterpoint to the larger oppressive forces of history.

Questions about his work as an artist bring out the different strands of thought that have made up his opus.

Q: African literature in past decades has focused overwhelmingly on the encounter between African and European culture. What are African writers most concerned with today?

A: We've moved into a stage of internal probing. An inquiry into the internal states of contradiction that have prompted the state of affairs on the continent. Issues of power, and the alienation from power, of the people being governed. We're really probing into the social interstices of our being, the philosophical givens. We've become far more inward looking over the last few decades.

Q: Africa is frequently discussed generically, as a single continent, ignoring the multiple nations and cultures.

A: This is not just a mistake the West makes. Even some African intellectuals do it as an act of choice – a sensibility that denotes unity – "don't split up Africa – we're one." It's a nice sentiment, but it lacks a basis of reality.

Q: You write in English, but what is your relationship to your mother tongue?

A: Colonial language was forced upon us. Just as colonial boundaries were enforced to serve administrative and economic needs of the colonial power. After independence, these new nations required, for the same administrative, economic, legislative purposes, a national language. Which was usually the colonial language – English, or French, or Portuguese.

So my generation grew up bilingual. We had our mother tongue, and then we had English – the language of exchange, mobilization, commerce, courts. From a political aspect, it was also the language of unity.

Q: Is Heinemann's African Writers Series broad enough to cover West Africa literature adequately?

A: The series is very uneven. While it did pioneering work, it also tended to do away with standards. That was why I originally refused to be published by it. But it was also a marvelous instrument for giving new voices an avenue for publication.

Q. What are the roles and responsibilities of the African writer who lives abroad?

A: The same as the role of the writer in any part of the world. Which is no different from the role of the bricklayer, or mason, or carpenter – that is, the role of a citizen. A human being, a community member.

The writer has one advantage: the tool of instant communication. As a citizen, the writer's role is to inform, sometimes to entertain. When I seek something to read, I don't reach for a political tract, I reach for a poem, a beautiful poem. But the very act of entering another's experience enlarges and strengthens me to return to the cauldron of political engagement.

So as a writer, you must find a way to enlarge your vision of humanity.

* * * *

Many might say that with the award of the Nobel Prize for Literature, Soyinka reached the apogee of achievement as an artist. He could afford to rest on his laurels. But he continues to delight in new adventures, to bring undiminished zest to his face-to-face encounters with audiences around the world. Perhaps this appetite for dialogue, this sustained creative energy, are the finest testaments to his work. They are living proof that art can, and does, revitalize, rejuvenate, reinvent, in the face of all challenges.

I want whatever he's on. And I want to still be on it when I'm seventy.

* Shailja Patel is Kenyan poet, writer, and spoken word theater artist. Visit her at

* Please send comments to [email protected]

According to this paper, "knowledge may be the chief currency and the essence of modern age. It can also be a strategic resource and a lifeline for Africa's sustainable development, which requires the acceleration of economic growth, the rehabilitation of the resource base, and the realization of a Green Revolution.”

This is a consumer campaign that was launched to help fill in gaps in the sustainable food movement, and to help direct consumers to organisations that are working on the issue. Sustainable Table works to educate consumers and increase demand for sustainable food through awareness campaigns, promotional events, and educational websites. It aims to offer viable alternatives to factory farming.

2005 was a significant moment for development campaigning. The United Kingdom presidencies of the EU and the G8, as well as UN meetings and WTO negotiations presented a unique opportunity to make progress in the campaign against global poverty. This report evaluates the UK’s Make Poverty History Campaign, assesses its impact, identifies its successes and discusses its challenges.

There are major debates going on in Southern African Development Community countries over the contribution from national grain (and especially maize) policies to the problems of regional food insecurity through restrictions on production and marketing. This policy brief is intended to encourage greater civil society organisations involvement in these debates and show that local evidence on the impact of national maize price and market policies can help to inform what is a very complex issue for most governments confronted with immediate challenges of widespread hunger in their own countries and demands to address long term strategies for the region as a whole.

This programme was created to recognise and elevate those selfless individuals who make a world of difference in the lives of children across the globe, regardless of political, religious or geographical boundaries. All Award funds go to support the proven and sustainable programmes initiated/managed by the winners.

This report documents both exemplary and harmful practices affecting Muslim women in Northern Nigeria, and evaluates them according to Sharia. Based on a desk review, consultations with various stakeholders and a national conference the report spans a wide area and consists of diverse ethnic groups, most of whom are Muslim.

This compact, from With Women Worldwide, argues that sexual and reproductive rights are a pivotal but neglected priority in HIV and AIDS policy, programming and resource allocation. Failure to protect the human rights of girls and women, including their right to health and right to live free of sexual coercion and violence, fuels the pandemic. It claims that universal access to sexual and reproductive health services and education, and the protection of sexual and reproductive rights, are essential to ending it.

The North-South Institute is pleased to invite applications for its annual Visiting Researcher position. This year's position is open to African policy researchers interested in spending from nine months to one year at the Institute, which is based in Ottawa, Canada.

Egypt's parliament agreed on Sunday (April 30) to a two-year extension of emergency law requested by the government while it prepares replacement anti-terrorism laws. The Muslim Brotherhood, the strongest opposition force, said there was no justification for extending the law, which President Hosni Mubarak last year promised to substitute with anti-terrorism legislation.

Elections have meaning for most people only in a democratic context because they lead to the choice of decision-makers by the majority of citizens. Elections and democracy are therefore inextricably linked. Three major challenges face the future of elections and democracy in Nigeria as we move towards the 2007 elections. The first challenge is that of the will and capacity of the National Assembly and INEC to keep to a road map that will lead us to free and fair elections in 2007. The second is the ambition of President Olusegun Obasanjo to change the Constitution to have a Third Term in office against the wishes of a majority of Nigerians. And the third is ensuring that the next elections are not as massively rigged as the previous ones were.

June 2006 will see the UN review it's Programme of Action (PoA) to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) in All its Aspects (PoA). What is the significance of this conference for women?

Members with "egregious human rights records" were one reason the former Human Rights Commission often failed to take strong action on human rights abuses. Democratic governments were also unwilling to jeopardise economic, political or regional ties, and shied away from condemning many states. Human Rights Watch argues that the new Human Rights Council's increased membership standards will discourage abusive states from joining. But whether "democratic government" members will also take their Council responsibilities seriously remains to be seen.

The practice of male lecturers at Makerere demanding sex from female students in exchange for diplomas and "carpet" grades - indicating where the transaction takes place - is well known. But recently, some administrators and women's advocates at the university quietly drafted a sexual harassment policy to address the problem. If it is approved - which could happen as soon as May - it would be among the first of its kind in an African institution of higher learning.

Security conditions in Nigeria show no sign of improvement. A new militant group in the Niger Delta, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), is tallying up the number of successful attacks against government security forces and multinational oil companies. MEND is a shadowy organization that first came to prominence on January 11, 2006 when it kidnapped oil workers based at Royal Dutch Shell's offshore EA oil rig. While the workers were released, MEND has proven to be a capable, armed organization. For instance, since January, MEND has killed at least 24 soldiers and police, kidnapped 13 oil workers and caused severe damage to several critical oil pipelines.

“How development interventions address the issue of gender-based violence,” by Belen Sobrino, highlights the shortcomings of current development policies to tackle violence against women, and proposes a new framework from a body politics approach to address VAW.

Agricultural research in Ethiopia has not achieved a consistent increase in crop productivity over the past 40 years. Ethiopia is still economically underdeveloped and food aid imports are estimated to be more than 0.6 million metric tonnes each year. However, recent developments are more encouraging.

The Omo National Park in Southern Ethiopia is being taken over by the Dutch conservation organization, African Parks Foundation (APF) and 50,000 people are in danger of being displaced and/or of losing access to their vital subsistence resources, according to the World Rainforest Movement.

“How nice it would be if whites were to say ‘I’m sorry’ and ‘thank you’ to the vast majority of people in this country who have been so forgiving about the past.” – Archbishop Desmond Tutu. April 27 is Freedom Day in South Africa. Tajudeen Abdul Raheem tackles the legacy of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the country’s racist past.

Desmond Tutu, former Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, is a global figure recognised as a symbol of peace and racial tolerance, probably only taking second place Nelson Mandela, Madiba. Post-Apartheid Tutu, in his wonderful humour and sober combination of theological pacifism with advocacy for social justice and political change, continues to be a voice for the underprivileged not only in his home country but also across the world. He is one of the few individuals around the world without even the political power of a ward councilor, but who wield enormous influence through the moral leadership they offer built on personal integrity and consistency in their commitment to social justice. Tutu has continued to judiciously use that power to speak truth to power inside and outside of South Africa.

He will be remembered for his role as the Chairperson of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa. The Commission was a bold move by the post-apartheid democratic government to help the millions of individual and group victims and perpetrators of the apartheid state and its crimes to come to terms with the past through full disclosure, demonstration of remorse, willingness to atone through personal forgiveness and in some cases administrative and judicial justice and other compensation.

It was a controversial step for a nation whose past atrocities and the consequences were only too painfully glaring, practically in every aspect of life. There were many people who felt then that the main liberation movement, the African National Congress, had already given away too much to the old racist power bloc and that the TRC absolved it further. Not a few people felt that the requirement of remorse was too subjective to be meaningful. Who is to say merely saying sorry meant that the person saying it meant it?

The procedures of the TRC transfixed many across the world with details of the gross violation of people's rights that competed with well-documented Nazi atrocities.

As the TRC continued its proceedings, one could not escape the conclusion that apartheid atrocities orchestrated by the state and its functionaries in a deliberate way for several decades were being put on the same basis as excesses (though condemnable and should not be condoned) by the various anti apartheid organisations especially the armed wings of Umkonto We Sizwe , Azanian Peoples Liberation Army and others. The trial of leading icons of the struggle like Winnie Mandela received mixed reactions. This was not because people supported the crimes for which she was tried but suspected that a woman so badly treated by the apartheid state was also being judicially persecuted by a government she helped bring about because of her controversial relationship with it. The disclosures of human rights violations of the liberation movements somehow made some of the racists feel a kind of dubious vindication in that the Blacks were as bad as them.

Over the months, the TRC became not so much a centre for engineering a new social contract between South Africans in this wonderful and romantically brand new RAINBOW nation (coined by Tutu and seized upon by everyone caught up in the optimism of the times, even though the rainbow has every colour in it except Black!).

Perhaps that symbol of a rainbow nation symbolically represented the balance of power in a post apartheid South Africa where Blacks formed government but essentially are still not in power in many ways. Real economic, social and political power still resides among whites. It is not the classic neo-colonial state as we know in the rest of Africa but rather a power structure that is still very much racialised with a small new Black elite happily acting as overseers. In the face of Tutu's Commission many former leaders of the apartheid state including former President P.W. Botha were defiant and saw no reason to apologise for their crimes. People like the Afrikaner Resistance leader, Eugene TerreBlanche and his types became a symbol of the worst of the racists, determined to resist any change.

No doubt there were many white people who genuinely supported the struggle and suffered many indignities including torture and death, but the majority of apartheid's victims remain black South Africans. Also, whether a white person supported or did not support the apartheid state, they were beneficiaries of its misrule. Does that mean that all whites should feel guilty forever for the crimes of apartheid? It cannot mean that, but they should also not rob Blacks of their painful memories by attacking anybody who suggests that the past should be remembered and atoned for as a racist or someone not interested in 'moving on'.

The pacifist Tutu himself was at the receiving end of both the liberal and conservative backlash last week for saying in an interview during a conference marking the 10th anniversary of the TRC and organised by the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation: “How nice it would be if whites were to say 'I'm sorry' and 'thank you' to the vast majority of people in this country who have been so forgiving about the past.” The reactions of many white south Africans including bleeding heart liberals to this statement that I have been following on the pages of the newspapers just goes to show how the past continues to weigh heavily on the present and has implications for the future. Every time historical debt is mentioned Whites tend to feel defensive and reel out their numerous contributions to the struggle. But the truth of racialised economic power in South Africa is that Whites as a group continue to be on top during and after apartheid. The fact that it is only Tutu's critique of their attitude that gets all the attention and not his frequent critique of the government for leaving behind the poor of South Africa (who are mostly Black) is itself proof if any is still needed of who is the privileged group in the new South Africa.

The voice of people like Tutu needs to be heard and acted upon. A philosopher, not frequently quoted these days, once formulated that while “...life must be lived forward it must be understood backwards”. That understanding is still very much in dispute among South Africans, even though they have made a lot of progress that many did not think possible only 15 years ago.

* Dr Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem is General-Secretary of the Pan African Movement, Kampala (Uganda) and Co-Director of Justice Africa

* Please send comments to

Africa Online Limited has introduced a mobile high-speed internet service in Kenya, making it only the second country after South Africa to have such a service. Known as InfiNet broadband, the service gives users speeds of one megabit per second, nearly 20 times that of a regular telephone connection.

On April 27th Durban will be mourning during its first "UnFreedom Day" event. Communities from throughout Durban's social movements join forces to mourn the denial of their collective rights, and to celebrate the strength that enables communities to work together, across barriers of race, during a day of cultural celebration and political action.

Where is the first place you go online for information about Conflict issues in developing countries? The Institute of Development Studies is publishing a guide to help busy people find some of the best websites on a wide range of development issues. A Good Place to Start - IDS Knowledge Services Guide to Development Information Online is an easy-to-use, pocket sized book that recommends five websites that are "Good Places" to start your search for information on over 30 themes within development. We’d like your help in selecting the five best websites about Conflict. So give us just one nomination, in no more than 150 words, telling us what you use the website for and why you recommend it. Our editors will review the entries and select the top five websites to put into the book. If your entry is chosen then it will be credited to you and you will receive FIVE free copies of A Good Place to Start to share with your colleagues and friends. Email [email][email protected] with your nominations by May 19th 2006.

As the crisis in Côte d’Ivoire drags on and each successive peace process ends in disappointment after disappointment, many have reached the conclusion that the situation of “neither war nor peace” prevails because it suits those who are benefiting. Yveline Dévérin makes a case for this argument, identifying the trends in the war economy of the country and the forces behind the profiteering.

The Ivorian crisis has now lasted for over three and a half years, from September 2002 to March 2006. The country is split into two zones – the governmental zone in the south, and the ‘ex-rebel’ zone in the north – separated by a ‘security zone’ which is patrolled by the United Nations Mission for Côte d’Ivoire (ONUCI) and the UN-mandated French army operation ‘Licorne’. Despite repeated attempts at mediation, the crisis persists.

For mediation to be effective, there must be the political will to make it work on both sides. In the Côte d’Ivoire, this is effectively stage-managed. Officially and publicly, political will conforms to political correctness: it would be unimaginable for the protagonists to state otherwise. Who could dare to claim they rejected peace and were content with being at war – with a situation of limbo, of ‘neither peace nor war’? There is therefore considerable dissonance between official political will and vested interests; between staged political correctness, and the economic and social interests that both sides of the conflict are actually pursuing.

The mediation process can only fulfil its mandate so long as the protagonists agree in principle about the final goal – peace, and are only divided as to the means of how to achieve it. However, the unpleasant evidence resulting from close observation of the facts indicates that in Côte d’Ivoire, it is otherwise the case: everyone is in agreement with the status quo. The situation has even been blessed locally as ‘neither peace nor war’ – which is a perfect expression of the reality. The hard truth is that the current situation suits all those who have the power to make it stop. From whatever angle you look at it, no one is interested in unblocking it.

After three years of the crisis, the overwhelming impression is, firstly, that there is extremely weak motivation on either side to achieve peace. On one side, as on the other, there is an endless offloading of responsibilities for the conflict on to others. The crisis is always ‘someone else’s fault’, that someone being – depending on the argument – France, Burkina Faso, Mali, or the whole World (an international conspiracy), or the ‘presidential entourage’. United in mutual, beautiful irresponsibility, the different sides also feign unanimous agreement that resolution of the conflict rests with the mediator. We are thus witnessing total abdication of all responsibilities by the powers that be: for each side, the conflict is the fault of another, and there must be a third-party resolution – to which each side is accordingly indifferent.

Both sides would like to see the conflict resolved to their own advantage. Delays are furthermore in the interests of both sides, as each is gradually becoming deserving of the label people in Ivorian circles are slowly daring to truthfully name: war profiteers. Not only from an economic viewpoint but also from social and political perspectives, the crisis is lining the pockets of the perpetrators.

The Economic Profiteers: ‘We’re still building, even at night’

The economic profiteers are the most visible; their spoils being all the more manifest for being ostentatious, whilst conversely, the ‘ordinary’ people are being driven to stagnation, depression and economic insecurity.

Government zone

In the government zone, right from the onset of the crisis, there has been a proliferation of luxury cars and elaborate buildings, without there even first being denunciation of the profits of those close to power. Bank accounts abroad, luxury vehicles, generous expense allowances, apartments in France, investments in cyber-cafés and petrol stations – which have multiplied in Abidjan since the crisis began – are some of the many signs of personal wealth, all the more visible, since their beneficiaries often had no assets before the crisis. The people of Abidjan, on their own initiative, have moreover coined relevant terms for this group of people who are popularly referred to as ‘patriots of the stomach’. And beyond the rhetoric of patriotism, there is a clear understanding, as in all such similar situations, that this is a classic case of a war economy, operating on the basis of various underhand deals. This flourishing war economy is epitomised by the anguished cry of one man in Abidjan: ‘We’re building in Abidjan at the moment; it’s not a crisis for everyone. We’re still building, even at night.’

Northern zone

In the northern zone, the phenomenon is less perceptible owing to the problems of access to and distribution of information. But we do know for example, that following the death of the war leader ‘Kass’ (Bamba Kassoum), during the conflicts in Bouaké in June 2004, his cyber-café was pillaged, confirming that he did at least own a cyber-café – which was not the situation in 2002! Other testimonies from the northern zone indicate that petrol stations are springing up all over the area.

Korhogo, a onetime sleepy northern town has undergone important urban change, and there has been an upsurge in activity linked to the war. Unlike Bouaké, Korhogo was not a battle zone, and was therefore not destroyed in 2002. It is far enough to the north to not be in the frontline, were conflict to resume, and it is in a prime location for trafficking between Burkina Faso and Mali.

Even though the ‘ordinary’ people are suffering from the war, they are at least finding some compensation in the new parallel economy: taxes are lower than in the southern zone, and thus, for example, there are reports that it is possible to buy motor-vehicles ‘tax-free’, imported from Burkina Faso. This gives many habitants who are have stayed in the zone access to materials to which they previously had none. By the end of 2005 some were beginning to recognise a conflict between on the one hand wanting to see the situation normalise, and on the other, fearing loss of the ‘collateral’ advantages, which, at the end of the day, are not negligible to the ordinary people.

Finally, it seems certain that the most financially influential people have invested heavily in Burkina Faso, particularly in Ouagadougou.

The International Crisis Group (ICG) has concluded meanwhile that, ‘it is clear the current situation in the west is serving the economic interests of politicians and pro-government military chiefs’, who are omnipresent in the region. One journalist expressed it thus: ‘Even the soldiers in the zones under government control are able to buy motorbikes in Bouaké.’ (L’intelligent d’Abidjan 10/3/2005).

The role of the cocoa industry

On a completely different level, the cocoa industry has supplied billions of CFA francs to the various presidential regimes. An expert report (AMIRI, Sid, GOURDON Alain, 2005) underlines that the Fund for the Regulation of Cocoa (FRC), the institution responsible for ‘the financial regulation and management of the industry’s funds’, is being used by those in power to finance the purchase of arms. The report also mentions that ‘a loan of some 10 billion CFA francs’, stipulated for ‘the war effort’ was completed in October 2003.

The boundaries between the war effort and personal enrichment have not been established very clearly. The Dakar-based Journal de l’Economie reported in November 2004 that more than 200 billion CFA francs spent every year are simply accounted for by the State under the heading ‘exceptional right to withdrawal’ (Le Journal de l’Economie, Dakar 16 November 2004). The Ivorian press meanwhile, regularly denounces irregular transactions. Funds are thus being used with complete impunity. Stakeholders in the cocoa industry are meanwhile immune from any public control procedures, and treat the monies allocated to them by the State as bribes. In September 2005, a joint IMF and World Bank investigation concluded that out of the 400 billion CFA francs allocated to the cocoa planters between 2002 and 2004, only 130 billion had been spent to the benefit of the industry. Meantime, between 1997 and 2003, the foreign multinationals (American, Dutch etc.) have seen their market share grow from 10% to 30%; the big concerns having never been so powerful or so profitable as since the war began in Côte d’Ivoire.

The Social Profiteers: To be counted amongst ‘those to be reckoned with’

Beyond the economic gains, the war – or rather the situation of ‘neither peace nor war’ – has proved for some to be a genuine social accelerator, which, moreover, is perceived as being provisional: it will only last as long as the current situation obtains. There are numerous people, in the north as well as the south, who, from being ‘nobodies’, have become important overnight, individuals to be reckoned with at a national level, whose names are suddenly cropping up everywhere.

In the southern zone, young people, who are frustrated and who are blaming society for their marginalisation ,constitute an important component of the ‘patriotic entourage’. Now suddenly, they are becoming significant, are patronising the ‘great and the good’, and are conversing with major Statesmen, at the very least indirectly, whenever there are significant developments. They occupy TV screens, even the RTI (Radio, Television Ivorienne) network itself. They are dominating the press and deciding what information is distributed, even what is published. Thus in November 2004, just before the hostilities which led to the bombardment of the French military base in Bouaké resumed, the ‘patriots’ first made the distribution of opposition newspapers very difficult through effecting commando operations to destroy opposition newspapers at newsstands. Then on the 3 November, the night before the first bombardments in the north, they finally destroyed the newspapers’ headquarters, thus demonstrating their extreme closeness of coordination with the powers that be.

In the northern zone, it is equally apparent that a band of young people has joined the rebellion, though here the phenomenon is on a smaller scale. To avoid making them visible at national, indeed at international levels, the rebellion has lent them importance at a local level. It is also worth reflecting on a particular grouping, called the ‘Dozos’, referring to the members of a brotherhood of traditional huntsmen from the north, who were, before the war, relegated to private security functions for the entire national territory. Overnight, they have resumed their primary function of local public security, and are officially recognised by the new authorities.

The assimilation of the rebellion forces into the military world is straightforward, particularly as many of the soldiers already belong, by personal name, to the brotherhood of the Dozos. What is new however is that the Dozos are being identified as a group, and discussed the world over, a phenomenon that is not insignificant, even if it entails no immediate direct material advantage.

Finally, the local chiefs of the two zones are gaining international recognition. Guilllaume Soro was until recently only a student, and his sole position of responsibility had been as head of the Ivorian student union, 1995-1998, ‘FESCI’ (The federation of students and school pupils in Côte d’Ivoire, a union created in 1990 as part of the development of a multi-party system). Now he is seeing his name published in all the world’s media, and he is summoned to speak with the elites. Soro does not simply talk on the phone to the heads of political parties, but also to heads of State. Furthermore, on the 29 December 2005, he became ‘Minister of State’, a position regarded to be number two in the government, and some are even now calling him the ‘vice-Prime-minister’. This is an honour he owes entirely to the situation of ‘neither war nor peace’, which has made him a major negotiator in the peace process.

On the same side, there is Charles Blé Goudé, who was also a student and the successor to Guillaume Soro, as head of the student union from 1998-2000. He is known as the ‘general’, the ‘youth general’, and the ‘street general’ (the ‘general of the public street’ as he detractors refer to him). He is leader of the young patriots, an inescapable personality. Charles Blé Goudé was the founder of the ‘Coordination of young patriots’ (‘COJEP’). He is regularly interviewed on international channels, and his face is known all over the world. He has debated face to face with Emmanuel Beth, the leader of the French ‘Licorne’ operation in Abidjan in 2003.

Eugène Djué, president of the ‘Patriotic Union for the total Liberation of Côte d’Ivoire’ (‘UPLTCI’) is less renowned internationally but it is nevertheless in charge of an entire section of the ‘patriotic galaxy’. The battles for influence between the different groups play themselves out as the fame of some casts a shadow over others. This is sharpened, as the stakes are often financial (there are incessant and unverifiable rumours of ‘suitcases’ being distributed by the President to some, and not others).

The war is therefore no longer merely about gains in personal wealth but also about demonstrating advancement in the social hierarchy. The same kinds of phenomena can be observed in the patriotic sphere, particularly in the west, where there has been an emergence of local war chiefs who are becoming all-powerful. This level of recognition cannot be dreamed of in peace times, even for those on the ‘winning’ side.

The Political Profiteers

Beyond the direct material and social interests, the situation of ‘neither peace nor war’ is equally beneficial from a political point of view. First of all, it provides a space for the surfacing of personal ambition: the most visible case is that of Guillaume Kigbafori Soro. Even though the name of the ‘MPCI’ has been communicated in the press since the 20 September 2002, this mysterious movement, outwardly very organised, with surprisingly well coordinated actions and equipment, remained faceless until the press conference of the 14 October (almost a month after the onset of the rebellion), when Guillaume Soro was presented as its Secretary General. Until then, he had appeared to be the likely ‘straw man’, standing in for a discreet silent partner. Little by little, he gained in statue, was recognised as a spokesperson, and invited by various media from Marcoussis, through Pretoria to Accra, Tana (Togo) and Abuja as a representative of the rebellion. He communicates with heads of States and international organisations. Gradually, he became a leading authority until when on the 28 December 2005 he became the number two in the Government of the Côte d’Ivoire.

On the presidential side, the President of the National Assembly, Mamadou Koulibaly, the President of the FPI (the ‘Ivorian Popular Front’ – President Gbagbo’s party), Pascal Affi N’Guessam, the President of the Ivorian Popular Front group at the National Assembly and Simone Gbagbo (wife of the President, Laurent Gbagobo) are all becoming important personalities in their party, thanks to the positions or actions they have taken in the debates about the conduct of the peace process. But here again, if peace comes, their positions will simply reveal themselves to be nothing more than internal rivalries.

In summary, the situation of ‘neither peace nor war’ is a kind of insurance for the protagonists on both sides: they do not have to be accountable, neither within their own camps, nor at national or international levels. As terrible as it may seem, the situation serves as a kind of guarantor for impunity. There will only be time to reckon up the balance sheet once peace has returned.

A cogent example is found in a report by Amnesty International, which amongst other things uncovered in February 2003 the execution of policemen in Bouaké during the first few days of the rebellion. The report is entitled ‘Côte d’Ivoire: A Succession of Unpunished Crimes. From the Massacre of the Police Officers in Bouaké, to the Mass Graves of Daloa, Monoko-Zohi and Man’. Its overriding concern is with the danger of impunity. The objective of the report is to demonstrate the danger of impunity through illustrating how the massacres of Yopogougon, executed by the police offices in the pay of the Ivorian Popular Front when Laurent Gbagbo seized power on the 26 October 2000, are at the root of the chain of violence, because of the impunity that surrounds them.

Amnesty International is congratulating itself because the international community has alluded to the possibilities of bringing the assumed instigators of the human rights violations committed by all the parties in the conflict to justice. It should however be clarified that even if the Côte d’Ivoire had signed the statutes of the International Criminal Court (ICC), it has not yet ratified it. Therefore, the ICC has no authority to pass judgement on these acts, unless the Security Council can get hold of the dossier under the terms of article 13(b) of the Statute of Rome relating to the creation of the ICC (Amnesty International, 2003). In the circumstances, it is thus understandable that the protagonists are in no hurry to see the situation normalised, which could permit the Côte d’Ivoire to ratify the Statutes of the ICC.

In any case, until October 2006 elections (postponed from October 2005) President Gbagbo is playing for time: he must hang on until that date because he is hoping to stay in power beyond the 30 October, the fateful date that would marks the end of his fifteen year reign.

Thus officially, in a very politically correct manner, he appears to be doing everything necessary for elections to take place on the 30 October. But in fact, everything is being done to prevent the elections being organised. External observers sometimes even have the impression that the protagonists may even be united in this perspective: no one seems to want elections, even if everyone is busy loudly proclaiming that they do. The ‘ex-rebels’ and the political parties with whom they are associated are not assured of winning them, and not only for reasons to do with the serious concerns about the conduct of the elections. Nor it is certain, by any means, that they would retain their unity if they did win, given that their unity is essentially based on opposition to Laurent Gbagbo. As for the President himself, we can quite understand why he is dragging his feet. Oumar Bongo (President of Gabon) in an interview with Jeune Afrique l’Intelligent in March 2005, first stated his ignorance about what can happen when the President’s mandate expires and then added: ‘Elections are needed so that there is a successor to Gbagbo.’ But that’s exactly the problem: Luarent Gbagbo does not want a successor!

We finally arrive at a paradoxical observation: each time the peace approaches, it is the work of the armed forces! We should not forget that the armed forces, though on different sides, are comrades in training, and live common everyday lives. They are not necessarily interested in seeing the war prolonged, if only because the controlled zones in peace time (which are not in competition with the rural militia and their holds on important traffic routes) may bring them more spoils than the hypothetical spoils of war; and because traffic passing through army check points is reduced because of the war. On several occasions, militia from the two camps have come to an agreement that points a way through to the end of the war. But each time, very quickly, the politicians have acted so that the tension is restored.

This was notably the case in July 2003 when the joint declaration of FANCI and FNCI seemed to be real ‘peace strike’ against the civil society perpetrators of the war. President’s Gbagbo’s repost was clear: ‘Just because the soldiers have ended the war does not mean the war is over. I will make a statement to the nation the day I consider the moment has come when a page has definitely been turned.’ (Agence France Presse, 10 July 2003) From August, the situation became tense again. On the 13 August, a report by the Secretary General of the UN expressed concern about ‘confirmed information’ about the rearmament of the national armed forces (FANCI) in the Côte d’Ivoire and about ‘suspicions’ of the rebels’ rearmament. The entire Ivorian press was making noises about the resumption of the fighting (APF 23 August). Then there were attempted air strikes over Abidjan (L’Inter, 25 August 2003).

This same scenario has developed, each time the armed forces attempted peace. It is caricatured in the situation which preceded the bombardment of the northern zone in November 2004. Following the Accra III agreements, the FANCI and the FNCI met three times (on the 16 August in Raviat, the 30 August in Bouaké and the 6 October in Yamoussoukro) to organise disarmament and billeting which were meant to take effect from the 15 October. But on the 4 November, the President’s planes began the bombardments of the northern zone! On the occasion of the first meeting, General Doué, who is the State’s Chief of the Army, a loyalist, had issued a caution. ‘General Doué blames the confrontations between FANCI and the “New Forces” on the politicians’ was the headline of the daily, Soir Info in the edition of the 17 August 2004, which reported the words of the General: ‘Fundamentally, we are victims of a process with which we are not associated. The politicians take no responsibility for what happens. But when it’s a question of making peace, they turn on us’.

The situation is therefore durably stuck. The protagonists all have the opportunity of working to unblock it but have no interest in doing so. For not only is the crisis simply lucrative, it is also validating, and therefore it goes on. And so long as it lasts, the mediators will come together around the table at the head of the country.

Conclusion: ‘We’ve had enough. Even the Bétés have had enough”

The ‘Ivorian crisis’ seems pointlessly destined to persist for some considerable time to come. Observers (GRIP – Groupe pour la Recherche et d’Intervention sur la Paix, International Crisis Group, and others) are unrelenting in their warnings about the unceasing threats that the conflict may resume. Only the ordinary population has an interest in returning to peace, but this group has no power to move things in that direction. In truth, the longer the problem persists, the more serious it will become. Because it is not enough for the crisis to simply come to an end. It would be pure self-delusion to imagine that one wave of the magic wand, and elections, however just and transparent, will bring about a durable peace. Because peace cannot simply be decreed, it must be lived.

The limits of this situation of perennial conflict lie within the limits of what the ordinary people are prepared to put up with. Sick of being pushed about since 2002 from city to city for meetings with the elites, and through endless 'agreements', ordinary Ivorians from both the north and the south are now protesting with the throbbing refrain: 'We have had enough'. Today, in 2006, the pitch has been raised yet another level: 'Even the Bétés have had enough' (President Gbagbo belongs to the Bété ethnic group). However the increasing internal rivalries on all sides and the vested interests of all parties leave little reason to hope for a rapid resolution of the crisis.

Little by little, the thinking is developing that this situation of ‘neither peace nor war’ is actually benefiting those who have the power to make it stop. ‘That’s to say, we are not yet out of the woods’, was the bitter conclusion of the Dernières Nouvelles d’Abidjan 25/7/2005. ‘The events and the succession of declarations this weekend alone indicate and demonstrate that the country is not yet out of the woods. And should we even dare to think, that worse still, the worst of all, may yet still be to come.’ (Le Nouveau Réveil 23/8/2005) ‘We are not yet out of the woods’ has become the new popular refrain.

* Yveline Dévérin is Lecturer in Geography, University of Toulouse-le-Mirail, France

* This article was translated from the original French version by Stephanie Kitchen. It was first published in the French edition of Pambazuka News No 5, Please send comments to [email protected]

Bibliography

References have been made to the West African press, particularly the Ivorian press; also to dispatches from the following agencies: Reuters, Associated Press and the Agence France Presse. The dates of the references are given within the text. Additionally, the following works and reports are cited:

AMIRI Sid, GOURDON Alain (2005): Etude diagnostic des organisations et des procédures de la filière café-cacoa de Côte d’Ivoire (‘Diagnostic study of the organisations and procedures of the coffee-cocoa industry in Côte d’Ivoire’), Cabinet ECO, Brussels, Cabinet BAA, Barcelona Report for the consideration of the Côte d’Ivoire Government on European Union financing.

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL (2003): Côte d’Ivoire: Une suite de crimes impunis. Du massacre des gendarmes à Bouaké aux charniers de Daloua, de Monoko-Zohi et de Man (‘Côte d’Ivoire: a succession of unpunished crimes. From the massacre of the police officers at Boauké to the mass graves of Daloua, Monoko-Zohi and Man’), 27 July 2003

AMPROU Jacky (2005): Crise ivorienne et flux régionaux de transport (‘Côte d’Ivoire and regional variations in transport’), Rapport thématique Jumbo, September 2005. Agence Française de Développement, p.18

BOUQUET Christian (2005): Géopolitique de la Côte d’Ivoire. Le désespoir de Kourouma (‘Côte d’Ivoire geopolitics. Kourouma’s despair’) Armand Colin, p.315

DEVERIN Yveline (2005): La crise ivorienne (‘The Ivorian crisis’) in VOLVEY Anne (ed), DEVERIN Yveline, HOUSSAY-HOLZSCHUCH Myriam, RODARY Estienne, SURUN Isabelle, BENNAFLA Karine L’Afrique, coll. Clefs-concours, Atlande, p.288

GRAMIZZI Claudio (2004): La paix s’éloigne de Côte d’Ivoire (‘The distant peace of the Côte d’Ivoire’), Note d’analyse, Groupe de recherche et d’information sur la paix et la sécurité [GRIP], 10 November 2004, http://www/grip.org/bdg/g4554.html

HOFNUNG Thomas (2005): Le crise on Côte d’Ivoire. Dix clés pour comprendre (‘Ten keys to understanding the Ivorian crisis’) Ed. La découverte, p.140

INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP (2005): Côte d’Ivoire: The Worst May Be Yet to Come. Africa Report No. 90 –24 March 2005

MELLET Sabine (2004): Cocoa: An Opaque Sector in African Geopolitics, No. 17
http://www.african-geopolitics.org/

SORO Guillaume (2005): Pourquoi je suis devenu un rebelled. La Côte d’Ivoire au bord du gouffre (‘Why I became a rebel. The Côte d’Ivoire at the edge of the abyss’) Hachette, p.174

FEATURED: On Freedom Day in South Africa, Piers Pigou reflects on the unfinished business of truth and reconciliation
COMMENT AND ANALYSIS: Yveline Dévérin explains the situation of “neither war nor peace” in the Côte d’Ivoire
LETTERS: Discuss China and Africa; The Politics of Disorder in Angola
PAN-AFRICAN POSTCARD: Tajudeen Abdul Raheem on living forward but understanding backwards in South Africa
BLOGGING AFRICA: Blog columnist Sokari Ekine rounds up the African blogosphere
BOOKS AND ARTS: Shailja Patel writes about Wole Soyinka, the activist
CONFLICT AND EMERGENCIES: Famine in East Africa, Bomb blasts in Egypt, fighting in Mogadishu and the latest from Sudan
HUMAN RIGHTS: Nine men detained for homosexuality in Cameroon go free
WOMEN AND GENDER: Update from the Solidarity for African Women’s Rights campaign
REFUGEES AND FORCED MIGRATION: Concern about Chad displacement crisis
ELECTIONS AND GOVERNANCE: Analysing the election gamble in the DRC; ‘Unfreedom Day’ dawns in South Africa
DEVELOPMENT: Trade unions resist IMF and World Bank policies
CORRUPTION: Move to make corruption a crime similar to genocide
HEALTH AND HIV/AIDS: The Jo’burg position on women’s rights
EDUCATION: Is the international community serious about Education for All?
LAND AND LAND RIGHTS: Squeezing out poor farmers
MEDIA AND FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION: State moves to gag media and NGOs in Kenya
INTERNET AND TECHNOLOGY: ICTs and the challenge of gender equality
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