John Rapley - Foreign FocusI REMEMBER one hot, humid evening in Cote d'Ivoire's dry season, some 12 years ago. The country was then run by Felix Houphouet-Boigny, the ageing President who had led the country to Independence some 30 years before. A pro-Western pragmatist, Houphouet ruled a one-party state which had delivered stability and prosperity. But after three decades in power, and the recession of the 1980s, he was looking tired.
I met with friends over drinks at an old club in downtown Abidjan, the country's major city and one-time capital. Once a favourite haunt of French colonials, the bar had since become popular among the city's new African bourgeoisie. The children of Houphouet's successful capitalist experiment, their hunger for change had turned them against the old regime. One of my friends was involved in opposition politics, and the consensus around the table was that the time had come for the old man to go.
Most everyone said Houphouet had done good things for the country, but that his time had passed. There was a sense of optimism, even exhilaration about the future of a democratic Cote d'Ivoire. And within months, street protests would force the government to allow the first multi-party elections in the country's post-colonial history.
Few of us then seemed to appreciate just how hard it would be for the country to replace the old man. Sure, it had 60 different ethnic groups, a major divide between a Christian south and Muslim north, and millions of immigrants from neighbouring countries. But more than two decades of harmony had apparently attenuated these differences.
Above all, Houphouet had smoothed over the differences masterfully. His economic policies had nurtured the development of a local capitalist class by channelling resources from the booming agricultural sector into urban industry. Houphouet took care to see that all the major groups in the country received their share, and so virtually every ethnic group was represented in the emergent Ivoirian bourgeoisie. Beyond that, though, he encouraged the members of this nascent elite to forge business partnerships among themselves, and even to cement their ties with marriages.
The result was that the country's dominant class was knit together into a tight personal web in which all the major families would sink or swim together. Nobody had an interest in rocking the boat. Thus, the political stability which brought continued economic growth was all but guaranteed. Standing atop this network was the old man himself, whose family had built up such a large array of personal and business connections that it really was not too much of a stretch for Houphouet to call himself the father of the nation.
Critics pointed out that the system was built atop monumental corruption. But Ivoirian corruption was closer to the Korean variety than the Congolese one. Ill-gotten gains did not end up so much in Swiss bank accounts and Belgian palaces as in local businesses. Not only did this generate continued economic growth at home, but it also gave the ruling class an interest in preventing the sort of protection rackets that had, for instance, bled the Zairean economy.
Multi-party elections weakened Houphouet, but he held onto power until his death in 1994. Sadly, the men who took over from him lacked his political acumen. The political network began fraying as various factions tried to take more of the loot for themselves. The country descended into a more debilitating corruption, ending with a 1999 military coup. The coup's leader, General Robert Guei, was himself overthrown in 2000 when he tried to overturn election results and have himself made President. But the election was deeply flawed, and while street protests forced General Guei from office, his successor, Laurent Gbagbo, had an almost equally dubious mandate.
That did not prevent Mr. Gbagbo from acting like the full President, angering the rest of the opposition. Divisions further deepened. Last week, they came to a head when a military mutiny delivered two major northern towns into the hands of rebel troops.
It is still unclear who is behind the mutiny, and whether it was intended as a coup. Nevertheless, the fighting apparently reflects the growing divisions of Ivoirian society. The country badly needs a leader who can reconcile these splits, and it must be remembering the old man with nostalgia.
John Rapley is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Government, UWI, Mona.
