After a four-month standoff in which hundreds were killed, Laurent Gbagbo, the former leader of the Ivory Coast, surrendered to UN and French forces today. After losing a presidential election last November, Mr. Gbagbo refused to give up power to the elected winner and his rival, Alassane Ouattara, sparking a civil war in the Ivory Coast between pro-Gbagbo forces and pro-Ouattara forces. French and United Nations helicopters attacked the presidential offices this weekend and the palatial residences where Mr. Gbagbo and his wife had been hiding underground for several days. Finally, Mr. Gbagbo sent his chief of staff out to wave a white handkerchief and signal his defeat. Mr. Gbagbo and his wife were subsequently arrested for illegally holding power these past couple of months.
In the city of Abidjan where Mr. Gbagbo held residence, the reaction was relatively subdued. There is no clear proof that the civil war that has been raging in this country. There have been hundreds killed and thousands having fled the war-ravaged Ivory Coast, yet there are still armed youth and pro-Gbagbo forces who have yet to show their reaction. However, in more regions across the country, celebrations are taking place. Most notably, the Abobo district saw today as a holiday. The Abobo district is where Mr. Gbagbo focused much of his anti-Ouattara repression in bloody and violent battle against the civilians and rebels.
But many are beginning to question France's role in bringing down Mr. Gbagbo. Firstly, there is some confusion as to who actually arrested Mr. Gbagbo. If it was Mr. Ouattara's forces, then it will be justified because he is the internationally recognized winner of last November's election, and he was bringing down someone that had illegally seized power. But if it was the French forces that actually arrested Mr. Gbagbo, then France might be accused of neocolonialism in a country is its former colony. French and UN forces were adamant that their role in the country was to remove the heavy weapons outside Mr. Gbagbo's residence and to protect the civilians of the Ivory Coast. Cmdr. Frédéric Daguillon, a French military spokesman in Abidjan, says, “There was not one single French soldier in the residence,” and Thierry Burkhard, another French military spokesman, said that Mr. Gbagbo’s enemies had “taken advantage” of the attacks by the UN and France to go in and arrest him themselves. But all this international help in bringing down Mr. Gbagbo may not be good news for Mr. Ouattara, who's legitimacy in ruling may now be tainted by the fact that he received outside help, and may even be "accused of being a puppet of the outside world", according to bbc.co.uk. Those close to Mr. Gbagbo say that the French forces were the ones to arrest him, a claim that has been denied by French diplomats.
So what do you think of the controversy? Was it France and the UN trying to impose a pro-Western government? Should the Ivory Coast have even received international help? And what does this controversy over bringing down the leader of a civil war mean for the Ivory Coast in the future?
P.S - check out http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/12/world/africa/12ivory.html?pagewanted=1&partner=rss&emc=rss for more info!
5 comments:
I'm not sure if it can be judged whether the Ivory Coast needed more international assistance than say Lybia, but at least something was done to stop this fighting. I'm sure that if no action was taken then we'd be hearing about constant guerilla and rebel forces clashing with loyalists while the president continues his ruthless reign. I don't know if France is committing an act of neo colonialism as it is working with the U.N., and at least the U.N. is doing what it was established to do.
I don't think that France arrested Gbagbo with the intent of neocolonialism, they were just helping the Ivory Coast.
I think that while there are other areas of the world that need international help, if hundreds of people have died and the problem was persisting, and the new government was unable to reach stability, then the international help is justified.
Problems like these need to be addressed solely by the UN, the supposed impartial international organization. The problem is, the UN isn't actually given enough autonomy to provide the relief these countries need, so national governments rush in with their relief because they have enough power to mobilize themselves faster. How this country manages to forget tragedies like Rwanda is beyond me, and I'm disappointed that the French had to step in and raise suspicion.
Solely from the context and info from this blog, I'm not sure if France had a direct role in having Mr. Gbagbo arrested. I can see how easy it is to be skeptical because of the corruption in governments worldwide that we hear about all the time. (Sad, but true.)
I don't think Mr. Ouattara should necessarily be worried about being accused as a "puppet of the outside world" because of this. It is true that he wasn't able to bring justice by himself, but I think that's understandable because he wasn't in power yet and didn't have the resources to take action. But hopefully he does have the leadership skills to lead the Ivory Coast toward a more stable future without needing to rely on the UN (which, like Alex said, doesn't have enough power anyway).
Post a Comment