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Apr. 17, 2007 The Gbagbo democratic regime (though ultra-nationalist and accused of local fascism by France) faced serious oppositions from home and abroad and in September 2002 (barely 2 years old) these culminated in a serious rebellion while he was away on a state visit to Italy. The rebels led by young radical Soro Guillaume struck simultaneously with sophisticated armoury that shocked the military establishment here in Abidjan and Bouake, the second largest city. They failed to capture Abidjan having been beaten back but succeeded in taking Bouake (where they are headquartered up till now) and other western and mostly northern cities. They are still controlling almost half of the territory of Cote D'Ivoire today. In the ensuing confusion and fear of the unknown that tragic night of Sept. 19th General Guei who was with his family in his home in Abidjan opposite the imposing underground St. Paul's catholic cathedral in the city center was killed allegedly by govt. soldiers. He was later accused by the minister of defense then and the ruling party of leading the rebellion or being behind it all but events had since proved them wrong to that effect. The General's queen of a wife, Rose, was equally killed with their most trusted loyal bodyguard Capt. Fabian Coulibally. Soro and his colleagues justified the rebellion by saying that they came to remove Gbagbo and re-establish the philosophies of Boigny which are non-discrimination and hospitality to all. To solve the matters thrown up by the rebellion and unify the country meetings were held in Togo, Ghana, Marcoussis in France, Abuja and Ghana again. But in all these peace meetings the rebels insisted that Gbagbo must go but Gbagbo refused such suggestions saying at every ocassion that he was democratically elected. The French troops based here in their thousands with sophisticated armada of battle-ready tanks and war planes were accused by the embattled Gbagbo government of supporting the rebels logistically. President Jacques Chirac is not a popular liked name here with series of demonstrations by Ivorians denouncing the French neo-colonial imperialist drives. The French troops once destroyed the three Ivorian Army war planes here in Abidjan when one of the planes bombed mistakenly the French military base in Bouake killing some French soldiers; that incident provoked a serious diplomatic row that nearly cost Gbagbo his seat as the French tanks at wee hours of a fateful charged night laid siege at the presidential palace in chic Cocody district forcing Gbagbo whose aides had gone home to raise alarm calling out his massive supporters led by another young former radical student union leader Charles Ble Goude unto the streets; as this was going on French war planes hovered over the RTI state TV station in the same Cocody few miles away from the state house waiting for signals perhaps from Paris to bomb it as the TV station was busy disseminating anti-France nationalistic slogans and songs! In the end the French troops retreated and took over the huge 32-storey magnificient Hotel Ivoire near-by and killed hundreds of Ivorian protesters men and women as the French snipers who took up positions in different blocks of the five star hotel ocassionally fired into the crowd to dissaude others from surging forward. The state television station was broadcasting the ugly spectacle live especially the lifeless head of a certain woman blown off by a French soldier. More and more Ivorians were trooping to the scene and the Ivorian army, police and gendarmery had a tough and rough time trying to control the crowd that was increasing every seconds. The mass revolt against the French led to the killing of some French men and women here with the destruction of French schools, businesses and villas. Even their military base in Port Bouet just meters away from FHB international airport was not spared as the irate youths opposed to the role of France went on the rampage seeking to dislodge the troops and send them packing. As the standoff lasted many French and other foreign white nationals were evacuated and sent back home. I saw the solid solidarity of a people united by one orange-white-green coloured national flag and one common cause! That Gbagbo is still in power today is because of the goodwill of his people; the average Ivorian see him as a reformer, a patriot who refused to be cowed or intimidated by mighty France. Indeed he stood up to Chirac and the French press celebrated his staying power! On more than one ocassion he had ordered the yanking off of Radio France International (RFI) and BBC french service from the Ivorian airwaves! The war made Gbagbo an instant hero. Gbagbo once told a French TV station that if Chirac wanted to be respected he should respect his office in turn and his people. The UN was actively involved in the peace initiatives leading up to an appointment of the former president of the West African Francophone central bank known as BCEAO with Dakar as headquarters Charles Konan Banny whose working relationship with Gbagbo was at best frosty. The executive powers the UN handed over to Banny were not effective as Gbagbo, ever shrewd, refused to recognise those powers having strong hold on the army and other machineries of government. The UN maintains a large multi-national peace-keeping force in the country. Sometimes the forces had been objects of criticism and physical attacks by the government and it's supporters who accused them of meddling in Ivorian internal affairs. But the thousands-strong force still maintains a buffer zone between the govt. forces and the rebel forces armed to the teeth. In spite of the UN efforts especially Ghanaian Koffi Annan when he was still the UN scribe accords after accords had been signed but issues of disarmament, demobilisation and re-integration as well as elaborate huge ID scheme to accommodate those Ivorians born here whose fathers or mothers are not originally Ivorian had stalled every progress towards achieving long-lasting peace. The issue of identity and nationality here is as divisive as it is complicated and even complex. Due to it's el-dorado environment a lot of foreigners were married to Ivorian women or vice versa. Even the Nigerian international football star Gabriel Okolosi, a big affluent boy, whom I once met in Cap Sud, a huge hypermarket in Zone 4 possesses the Ivorian national ID signed and given to him by the late President Boigny. Just recently last month however Gbagbo (who was hitherto accused of frustrating every peace initiative) initiated a peace meeting presided over by Blaise Compaore of neighbouring Burkina Faso which seemed to have broken the jinx at long last. An accord was signed between Gbagbo and Soro in Ouagadougou, the Burkinabe capital. Things appear to be in order as all parties seem to support and welcome the accord having been worn out by 5-year old no-war no-peace situation. President Gbagbo has since made a national broadcast in which he urged his people to embrace peace while Soro equally did a broadcast in Bouake urging his fighters to lay down their weapons and participate in the peace process leading to general elections early next year. Ivorians and foreigners alike have really suffered from the rebellion and they are desirous of peace, genuine peace that can re-unify the whole country. Didier Drogba, the Chelsea footbal star who won the African footballer of the year award recently in Accra while presenting the trophy to the president here demanded that the peace efforts be consolidated and asked president Gbagbo to allow the Ivorian national team, the elephants, play the return leg match against Madagascar in Bouake to which the president expressly consented to declaring that the war is over! Didier Drogba took the trophy he won as the best African soccer star to the city of Bouake, the rebel enclave where he met and presented the award to Soro Guillaume in an emotion-laden event in a stadium packed to full capacity. Drogba, ever so patriotic despite the fact that he had lived all his life pre-football in France told the cheering crowd that the whole 'Elephants' the Ivorian national football team would be in Bouake in few months time for their African cup of nations qualifying return leg match against Madagscar. In the five years the war has lasted thousands have either been killed, maimed, raped, tortured, or made homeless. It was a political tragedy with knock-on effects on econo-social realities on the ground. In Abidjan and Yakro a lot of houses were built by the government to cater for the huge number displaced by the war. And a ministry of the displaced and victims of war was established with a woman as minister. But one good thing about it all is that the war never adversely affected economic activities here or in Yakro: the infrastructures are still intact and working as though there's absolute peace. The seaport here in terms of volumes of economic activities rank only second to the Lagos seaport. Abidjan remains a city of blues where life is in full swing especially at night hours. The capacity of Ivorians to overcome shock and terror remains baffling. The people like freedom and life and there's no force that can change that attitude that they were born with. The Ouaga accord enjoys the broad support and acceptance of every stakeholder in the Ivorian national political life with every group and interest campaigning seriously for it's application unlike the past accords. Almost everyone sees in the accord an opportunity to bid farewell to social division and political altercations of the recent past. Huge price has been paid by different actors and actresses in the lingering crisis. Now that peace has come at long last with the general elections slated in ten months time and with general amnesty decree signed into law by the president, the nomination and assumption of office of Soro Kigbafori Guillaume, the rebel leader as Prime Minister and the composition of a new broad-based government team comprising both government nominees and those of the opposition this's hoping that all and sundry will work to achieve peace practically by re-unifying the country, demobilising the combatants and re-integrating them into the national army as agreed upon; if for nothing but in memory of Nana Houphouet Boigny who detested war or conflict in his time and worked assiduosly to prevent same. Long live Cote D'Ivoire and long live freedom everywhere! ------------ About the author: Sunny Chris Okenwa is a U-K contributor based in Abidjan Cote d'Ivoire. Email: soco_abj_2006_rci@hotmail.fr Comment on this article here! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com. 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