French, UN forces install new president in the Ivory Coast

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W placed Laurent Gbagbo as presi- eeks after Alassane Ouattara redent, the Ivory Coast (Côte d’Ivroire) remains in chaos. The capital city, Abidjan, has been wracked by looting and gun battles by rival armies professing loyalty to Ouattara. The discord came to a head on April 27, when Ibrahim Coulibaly, commander of the so-called Invisible Commandos, was killed in a firefight with other pro-Ouattara troops.

The UN had declared Outtara the winner in disputed elections last November, but Gbagbo refused to give up power— claiming vote fraud in the north of the country. Outtara was able to enlist for his cause the Republican Forces of Ivory Coast (FRCI) and other militia mainly from the north. In the conflict, civilians died at the hands of soldiers from both sides. Millions fled their homes.

Outtara’s armies were able to win territory from Gbagbo’s defenders in rapid fashion—until they got to Abidjan, where Outtara was aided by some 10,000 French and UN “peace-keeping” troops.

The capture of Gbagbo on April 11 was made possible through the direct action of France—whose military forces are the best equipped in the country. French and UN helicopter gunships fired on loyalist “The Conspirator,” directed by Robert Redford, written and Robin Wright. O War, Robert Redford and writer James Soloman n this 150th anniversary of the opening of the Civil have created a beautifully shot, intense legal drama of the period that parallels much of the U.S. administration’s thinking since 9/11. The theme of their new film, “The Conspirator,” is the arrest and conviction of those who conspired to take down the government. At the same time, the film is notable for its strong storyline about a mother, Mary Surratt’s (Robin Wright)

deep love for her son and her willingness to sacrifice herself to save him.

James McAvoy plays Frederick Aiken, a former Union captain who saw many of his comrades slaughtered. Aiken returns to his law practice, as the junior partner to Senator Reverdy Johnson (Tom Wilkinson, in a rather thankless role). Johnson has foisted the defense of Mary Surratt, a Southerner, on Aiken.

The film shows a victory celebration attended by Washington, D.C., society, politicians—including a smarmy, boorish Secretary of State Edward Stanton (Kevin Kline)—army officers, and their ladies. Someone asks if President Lincoln will be there. No, the president prefers the theater to a party.

That night, a man breaks into the home of Vice President Andrew Johnson (Dennis Clark) and tries to murder him. He survives; the would-be assassin escaped. At the same time, the actor, John Wilkes Booth (Toby Kebbell), sneaks into Lincoln’s box at the theater and shoots him in the back of the head, jumps onto the stage shouting a “rebel” slogan, and breaks his ankle.

Booth is later shot dead, hiding in a burning barn. The conspirators had roomed at Mary Surratt’s boarding house and held meetings there. Aiken discovers that 8 Socialist Action may 2011 troops and arms depots close to Gbagbo’s compound in Abidjan; French ground forces then occupied the area. Only after they had set the stage to their liking did the French allow the FRCI the honor of flushing Gbagbo from his bunker while photographers filmed the event.

Gbagbo’s arrest and the inauguration of the Outtara regime were applauded in the U.S. and European media as a gain for democracy against tyranny. Even the compliant African media hailed the event. Kenya’s The Star, for example, stated: “Ouattara is the rightful president of Ivory Coast, and Gbagbo was a usurper. The French government was right to support his removal, even if they are accused of neo-colonialism.”

The Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Le Potentiel declared: “The international community’s intervention in the Ivoirian crisis saved African democracy—a response to those who believe that democracy in Africa is just an illusion.”

Unfortunately, Outtara is hardly a democrat, having served as prime minister in the repressive regime of HouphouetBoigny in the early 1990s. His standing in the West comes from the fact that, after two terms as a top official in the International Monetary Fund, he has shown himself to be constantly attentive to corporate and imperialist interests. On April sition of Ivory Coast resources. He committed a “crime” in French eyes, however, by enabling U.S. and British interests to obtain oil industry concessions.

Since granting “independence” to the Ivory Coast in 1960, France continued to dominate the country economically and politically. Abidjan is a major regional hub for French banks and commodities brokers. French corporations own most of the utilities in the country, and French officials played a constant role through the years as advisors in Ivoirian government and economic sectors.

The Ivory Coast is a major prize of neocolonialism—the largest economy in the region. It produces more than one-third of the world’s yearly supply of cocoa, and other lucrative crops, such as coffee. In recent years, oil has risen to become the country’s second major export.

The cocoa crop, in particular, brings huge profits to the corporate merchandisers in the United States and Europe, though the wages of the African farm laborers are paltry. Yet farm jobs have attracted immigrants to Ivory Coast from other West African countries that are even more impoverished. Most of the newcomers are settled in the (heavily Muslim) north of the country, where the majority of the cocoa plantations are located.

When in office, Gbagbo tried to latch from the north were on the verge of taking over the entire country in 2002. But French and UN “peacekeepers” pushed them back, and established a borderline that divided the country into two distinct sectors. Rather than healing the disputes between the warring sides, however, the imperialist-imposed territorial division merely hardened the differences.

Now Ivory Coast has been militarily unified once again; Outtara has pledged to U.S. officials that he will be the president “of all Ivoirians.” However, the death of Commander Ibrahim Coulibaly in April underscores the danger that the country could still break up into warring fiefdoms and armies, as politicians jockey for power and privileges.

Though Outtara might still rely on French or even U.S. troops to keep him in office, he would have to pay the price (which he seems willing to do) of allowing foreign capitalists to extend their control over the country’s resources. And thus the cycle of poverty and desperation would continue.

Repairing the despoliation caused by the recent war, and healing the social divisions, are the main tasks of the moment for Ivory Coast. But at the same time, the working people and poor farmers need to make sure that proceeds from the country’s bountiful resources are used to solve the needs of the masses—rather than squirreled away in French, American, or Swiss bank accounts. Fulfilling that task will take the construction of a nationwide working-class party with a revolutionary program. n