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Letters Readers’ views


Côte d'Ivoire's story Tom Mbakwe’s attempt at telling “Te story behind the story” (New African, February) in Côte d’Ivoire frustrates the reader seeking a balanced view on how the country arrived at the North/South divide, and the political stalemate there following the presidential run-off elec- tions. Mbakwe argues that the Colonial Pact, in which France still controls and manipulates Francophone Africa, is the missing factor neglected in the interna- tional reportage of the crisis. The avante garde challenge of


Laurent Gbagbo to the Pact is proffered as the actual reason for his not stand- ing down, and, since the French would not have it, Gbagbo thus becomes the victim of his principled defence of the sovereignty of Côte d’Ivoire, while Alassane Ouattara is the stooge that the French would foist on Ivorians. Rooted in truth though “the French


problem” may be, Mbakwe paints an incomplete picture when he fails to men- tion the circumstances in which Gbagbo came into power and what he has done, or not done, to heal the wounds and unite the Ivorian people. Gbagbo rose to the presidency in 2000 in the wake of politi- cal turmoil fomented by an ideological campaign that suggested some citizens were more Ivorian than others. Ivoirité, as the ideology is known, is Afro-fascism at worst or national chauvinism at best. Obviously Gbagbo is not the creator


of Ivoirité, but neither has he been seen to do anything to end it. Alassane Ouattara – whose father is allegedly Burkinabe – has been tarred and feathered as not having “a true Ivorian identity”. For Ivorians, and especially the millions who support Ouat- tara, this is a rude reminder of those con- troversial 2000 elections, when Ouattara was barred for not being Ivorian enough. Maybe Gbagbo and his like need to look at neighbouring Ghana – if the United States is too far away from view – to appreciate that someone can become president of a country even when their father is from another country. If that is not convincing enough, they should remind themselves that the father of the chairperson of the all- important African Union Commission is from a totally different race and continent. Could it not be that all these claims


of electoral fraud are still Gbagbo’s ina- bility to come to terms with Ouattara’s


4 | April 2011 New African AN IC PUBLICATION 45th Year • February 2011 • N°503 The bestselling pan-African magazine


Côte d’Ivoire The story


behind the story


NIGERIA: THE GLADIATORS FINALLY EMERGE


SUDAN: THE SOUTH CAN’T WAIT


TUNISIA’S HISTORIC UPRISING


ZIMBABWE: “COME AND INVEST


WITH US” AFRICA:


OIL KING IN THE


MAKING


SPECIAL REPORT:


Thank you, Akua Djanie Akua Djanie’s “Reflections of an ordinary woman – losing my soul” (New African, February) demands a response. Te truth is that the continent has indeed lost its pride, traditions, culture and its history with cat- astrophic rapidity. Every Tom, Dick and Harry thinks that Africa is a ready-made place for adventures and a testing ground for enforcing (whether we like it or not) their own strange values. Nonsense! Te continent has been penetrated for exploi- tation from every angle – be it cultural, political, economic, social, historical or through religion. It is bizarre. Tank you Akua, for your trail-brazing article.


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Etukeni Agbaw-Ebai Yaoundé, Cameroon


NA_COVER_0211.indd 1 20/01/2011 14:51


One of our readers has another perspective to add to the story behind the Côte d’Ivoire story, covered in our February issue


true Ivorian identity? Colonialism, neo- colonialism and outright racism will remain justifiable explanations for the ills of Africa for a long time, and the Colonial Pact makes the culprit more obvious in Francophone countries. Yet, in the grand design of power rela-


tions, the West will continue to exploit or seek to exploit vulnerable countries in Africa and elsewhere for their own ends. To expect otherwise is to live in a fool’s paradise and Gbagbo is no fool. Te task for Africa and Africans is to rise up and pull together in defence of their own patch, so when Gbagbo challenges French vested interests in his own country and calls for redress of the obnoxious Pact he is doing the right thing. What is not the right thing to do is to


do nothing about Ivoirité, and worse still to exploit it for self-serving political ends. African judgement will rightly remain harsh on colonialism and neo-colonialism, but the harshest criticism is deserved by Africans, who come in the name of the people only to turn around and pose as some indispensable messiahs with very little respect for the will of the people. Needless to say, democracy is what is


at stake in Côte d’Ivoire right now, and must remain at the centre of public focus and discussion until reason comes to bear on intransigence and self-righteousness.


Samwin John Banienuba Liverpool, UK


Reflections, narrow-minded I feel that Akua Djanie’s article “Losing my soul” was solely the reflections of a very narrow-minded, self-described “simple natural celebrity”. Te author sees the African identity – cultural values, tra- ditional practices, and ancestral belief systems, such as corn-row braiding, tight family networks, traditional weddings, and spiritual powers – as being in danger, or even replaced by Brazilian hair weaves, the nuclear family, a wedding reception focused on the marrying couple, or some self-enriching Christian pastors. She even insults Africans in general


for not being capable of discerning their cultural backgrounds from those of Ameri- can or European origin. But isn’t this what globalisation means on a broader level – providing a look beyond one’s own tradi- tional heritage, that should allow anyone to embrace other cultures and traditions openly in order to decide which pieces of a foreign culture are appealing or even enriching? Why should we even continue to stick


to traditional systems based on the judge- ment of elders or a village community, when such traditional systems opened the doors for socially accepted human rights violations for centuries, in the name of culture? (See the article “Te witches of Gambaga” by Yaba Badoe, in the very same issue that this column appeared.) Without noticing it herself, Adjanie


offers evidence that globalisation actu- ally allows people to choose those (Afri- can or non-African) traditions they feel worth keeping. Or how would one


NEW AFRICAN


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