Cote D’Ivoire - Weeping With Every Tear in My Body

A Guest Post by Georges Njamkepo (Originally published on Scribbles from the Den)

"In Mr. Gbagbo's look, I saw the depths of his introspection into the recent history of his country; I saw the regret of having started this conflict, but most of all, for having accepted to play the escalation game which Africans have mastered so well..."

It has been painful, very painful indeed, to look at the images of the arrest the President of Cote d'Ivoire. Mr. Laurent Gbagbo, President of Cote d'Ivoire, has been humiliated, and with him the institutions of the Republic, that is, the people of Cote d'Ivoire. And by extension, all Africans, including Mr. Ouattara, are without light, in total darkness.

Whatever the reasons for which we fight, in as much as it is not necessary to allow the killing of human beings, it is equally pathetic to kill the image of a person, whatever his crimes, because there's history. And history will retain that Mr. Gbagbo was humiliated, with the blessing of Ivoirians and all those who participated in this farce, this murderous folly; he was humiliated with the blessing of African heads of state who did not raise a single finger to try and cool the ardor of the warring parties; his image was dragged in mud because of our legendary irresponsibility, our propensity to blame others for our misfortunes. Laurent Gbagbo was used to tell Africans that after everything, they're nothing but cattle... and I hope that all of Africa saw it this way.

I saw the distress in the expression of this man, who in just a few months, a few years, ended up losing his uprightness.

In this man’s look, I saw the confusion, the suffering of having fought only to find himself tracked down like a rat; in his look which spoke to me, I saw the cries of all those families now in mourning over nothing, nothing really.

In Mr. Gbagbo's look, I saw the depths of his introspection into the recent history of his country; I saw the regret of having started this conflict, but most of all, for having accepted to play the escalation game which Africans have mastered so well...

Laurent Gbagbo, after having known glory, after having controlled the coat of arms of Cote d'Ivoire for 10 years, after having lived a life of distasteful gain under the gilded marble walls of the republic, Mr. Laurent Gbagbo was arrested - what a victory for his adversary, what a pleasure for those who like Mr. Ouattara want his head.

After his career as a combative politician, Mr. Gbagbo ended up in a poorly lit, dirty underground  bunker with no ventilation, deep in a cave from which there was no future for someone who, while on the run, had taken time to set fire above, in the house above his hiding place.

Who will foot the bill? Who will pay for Cote d'Ivoire's dead? Who will wipe away the tears of the mothers, the women, the children? Who will make a fuss over the many who have learned the hard way that when two elephants fight, it is best to be far away, far, far, away...

I suffer in my flesh to see mutilated bodies on the pavement, lifeless bodies; I suffer in my flesh to realize that a life is worth nothing but a bullet...

I scream, I scream my pain, and hear my body twitch as it is jolted by the sight of this waste, of this enormous human misery. In Africa, we have lost the meaning of life, the desire to live is gone...
I can no longer hold back the tears at the thought that the history of violence on the continent still has a long way to go, worse, it is now commonplace and natural because two cocks are fighting for the control of the courtyard. Am I that naïve? Am I still too weak to understand that in the end, the debate in Africa is ultimately about issues of raw materials and hardware? Did I really have the same upbringing as my fellow Africans...

It is possible that I am right, and Africans are simply cruel folks who at the slightest turn decapitate with the same ease that one cuts off a leaf from a mango tree? Are Africans simply barbarians by tradition, savages who refuse to be enlightened, and who prefer to bask in their obscurantism?

I suffer in my skin as I look at these images. But I retain the sole lesson from this episode in the history of Cote d'Ivoire which lasted far too long: 

If you are involved in a conflict, you should definitely not turn to the West for help; dialogue with your adversary for as long as it takes, and let the Western powers stay home because no one in the West will allow that their head of state to be disgraced as was the case today. 

Africa is torn apart, Africa is humiliated, Africa has been reified as a result of this Ivoirian conflict... shame on us Africans because things are falling apart for us.I weep with every tear in my body and my nights will henceforth be filled with nightmares... I hope my cries will go far, very far down to the 100th generation after us. I am weeping, please let me be...   

Translated from French by Dibussi Tande (Originally posted on Facebook)

Comments

[John Dinga]

Cry our bloved continent! Georges Njamkepo, you have said it well for all of us who weep for Africa. It is sad that this should have taken place in A. D. 2011.

But then again, this is not uniquely an African soft spot. I still retain the image of His Excellency Saddam Hussein being dug out of his hiding inside a street gutter. That was nothing to be proud of. Any person with human feeling would weep at such humiliation. Could it have been avoided? Of course the answer is YES.

So why was it not averted then? The answer lies in a cynically African perspective that refuses to learn from history. One can blame the main actor - in this case former President Laurent Gbagbo - to some extent, but by and large the bulk of the blame and responsibility must rest at the doorsteps of his many enablers, who encouraged and praised his obdurate stance against the odds, who refused to take the correct barometric pressure outside and relay it to him, those who praised him, exploited him for their own selfish agendas, followed him blindly down the dark alley, those who chose the herd mentality of following ethnicity or religion.

Life would be so much easier for Africa and the world if these artificially created superhumans, these larger-than-life presidents did not push their luck too hard and too far. It would be so nice to think that Laurent Gbagbo will be the very last in this sad chapter but, alas, as I write this, an ambitious woman has successfully got her country's Supreme Court to approve her divorce from her husband, so that she can run for office, a ruse concocted to circumvent a law that does not allow close relations of the incumbent to run for office! As I write this another incumbent just changed the rules of the game so that the much yearned for independent electoral commission should be stripped of the power to declare elections results, paving the way for the Constitutional court - incestuously staffed by his appointees - to do the dirty job that plunged the Ivory Coast into the saga we are witnessing today.

Power! Power! Innocent citizens have been rushed to their premature deaths by the scheming of those with inordinate ambition to grab power, energized by myopic individuals who see only their selfish interests in the bargain.It would be so nice to consider Laurent Gbagbo the last of them but....

[Princwill]

Just yestarday he was captured, all the generals fighting for him, incouraging him, misleading him just for their selfish interest are today turning to the new president and begging him.

That is indeed crazy! all those who were fighting for Gbagbo should be brought to justics.

Gbagbo is not the only one. all those generals and ministers who supported him should be in for. They don't have to cross now. it is too late.

[DANGO TUMMA]

all of you are talking as though you dont know, who sponsore all these trouble in cote ivoire, right from start?
THE MAN IS AN AFRICAN HERO, BAGBO IS FIGHTING FOR THE COMMON MAN. OUTARA AND HIS WHITEFRENCH WIFE ARE ARE BEEING USE BY FRANCE SOO FRANCE CAN CONTINUE STEALING COTE IVOITE GOLD, DIAMOND ,OIL, COACOA, AND OTHER ASSETTS, WHEN WILL YOU PEOPLE SEE BEYOUD THE SURFACE, FRENCH CAMEROUN AS WELL IS THE SAME THING,
EVERY TIME YOU BUY ANY THING, 85% GOES TO FRANCE, FOR USING THE NAME CFA FRANC. SINCE 1948, WHEN WILL AFRIACNS CHOOSE FREEDOM?

[Hendy]

What I do not understand are these slaves who are condemning Gbagbo. You do not deserve a country and do not have one because you have no notion of what it takes. Gbagbo is the first African francophone leader of his generation to thoroughly understand France and to stand up to it pretty much to the end and this is not the end because there are now millions ofmores them who hate france. When cote d'ivoire finally gets freedom it will be like vietnam or Rwanda which have totallyrejected them and their evil ways

[Che Sunday]

Stop ranting rubbish. If he knew he was not going to accept the outcome of the elections, why the hell did he agree to have them at all? What makes him a saint in your eyes and Biya a devil? No individual is above the law, so in Laurent Ghagbo has been wining and dining out with you, keep that personal and stop trying to make him a saint. How many innocent Ivorians died as a result of this man? What gives him the right to bring his country to the brink of civil war and have others die why he lives to have his day court? I hope he hangs himself before his trial come around.

[J. S. Dinga]

It is so easy to throw our weaknesses at the doorsteps of others. Yes,France might have had something to do with the mess in Ivory Coast. But is it not overtaxing credulity to believe that an outsider can come into a sovereign nation and beguile the whole nation into an unacceptable arrangement? What is so different about the practice in Ivory Coast that we have not seen with other partners, including the most recent darlings - the Chinese?

Making Laurent Gbagbo the saint in these matters does injustice to all those patriotic citizens who were kept aloof and branded "dissidents". It does injustice to the National Assembly reduced to hand-clappers by an overbearing executive, and here Ivovy Coast is hardly alone.

The beauty of this website is that it actually allows citizens of Cameroon to share positive ideas that can help move the nation ahead. Why others use it only to throw missiles at fellow citizens remains an enigma. Faceless cowards continue to leak half-truths and blatant lies, pathetic little Gollums thrive in gossips and nastiness, shrivelling if forced to reveal their real names. That does not help our common cause!

[Bob Bristol]

If this whole thing was an Ivorian affair, whatever the outcome couldn't have been anything to shed a tear for. If anybody still trust the west, especially France, then we as a continent still have a long way to go. The theiving conspiracy of the West has just been baptised by Africans themselves. Like I continue to say, if a people cannot unseat their "dictatorial" government, then they are unworthy of the kind the yearn for. Ivory Coast has been recolonised.

[dingana]

We are the first to point fingers at things that are not moving accordingly, but when these problems are tackled, we lack the qualms to stomach the consequences. I really don’t care if Gbagbo was removed from power by the French or by Ouattara’s militia.

It is time for African presidents to realize that after 10 years in power, they are no longer productive. They basically have reached the point of marginal utility.

It should be noted that France is acting under the mandate of the UN. ECOWAS were the first whistleblowers, but unfortunately they lacked the guts and resources to intervene. I am glad Laurant has been caught and he is nothing but a victim of his own scruples. What would have been the outcome of this war, without the intervention of France? Another genocide?

[Mallam Shehu]

Noise making, that's always where we most thrive with great finesse. How many of you damn noise-makers have thought abt opening a bank account or even contribute small coins to help poor Ivoirians that were caught in-between the warring factions? How many months were we silly folks given to help solve that problem? Were we up to that task? You all come around here ranting like mad people.
Look at how we slaughtered one another in Rwanda, Zaire, Sudan, Somalia and so on, where were Africans: eating, getting drunk and f**k***. And you all come here talking bull dump about France and Co., loveliness.
France should come and colonise us again and complete the second phase of that soap-washing process. We're all in a dire need of that desperate second coming.
Feel ashamed to have been born in the midst of such a talkative folk; bark, bark, and just barking for nothing, all vain people.

[limbekid]

At the initial stages of the Ivorian conflict I was very much in favour of Alasane Ouattara`s cause, for the sole reason that i considered democracy sacrosanct (the winner of an election should be allowed to lead). Right now i`m not so sure I still hold that ideal.

Abdoulaye Wade famously said of the 1993 Senegal presidential elections, that he believed he was the true winner, but he was not going to enter the presidency by walking on the corpse of Senegalese. I wish Ouattara had followed such advice.

In my book neither candidate has proved himself worthy of the throne. ouattara may finally get his wish but it is a hollow victory.

@ Mallam Shehu,
I`m sure you`re aware there are specialised forums for such contributions, such as:http://www.oxfam.org.uk/oxfam_in_action/emergencies/liberia-refugees.html?pscid=ps_ggl_G-039-Emergencies-Generic-Ivory+Coast

[Facter]

Limbekid thx for the link. Shehu surely you have something more than self loathing to offer. I for one am on exile because we are already colonized. Those who eyes can see. Ivory coast merely opened the eyes of others. Then there are those whom even Jesus cannot help.

[anchor]

Democracy when the country is in a cage controlled by an outside force is only a farce. Only a free, sovereign country can practice meaningful democracy. More often than not, such sovereignty comes at a very high price. The question is, do Africans understand that? Vietnam payed that price. Today, Vietnamese, not french is the language of business in Vietnam. It would have been entertaining if it were not pathetic that a lot of Africans do not understand that it has not been about democracy in the Cote d'Ivoire. They have clearly not been following what has been happening from the beginning over 10 years ago.

Have a great weekend.

[Mens Bootcut]

But the government of Cameroon is talking about growing close to 1/8 of its total labor force in one swoop and in the middle of a fiscal year. No one needs to tell me how much wool has been pulled over the eyes of fellow journalists in the Public media in Cameroon. But it is unpardonable to not ask how it is possible for the government to create a new budget line capable of hiring 25,000 fresh employees without consulting the national assembly? Where is the money coming from?Is it part of the discretionary spending from the Presidency? If it is, just how big is this discretionary line and what is it otherwise used for? Fancy trips to Europe and what else…? Respective Ministerial departments have not reported finding new lines of credit from which to hire.

[Womens Petite]

On the Republicans’ health care plan, impersonator Steve Bridges had it right. Playing President Barack Obama, he said that the Republicans devised a two-prong health care plan for the sick and poor:

[susuung]

I still insist everyday, that whatever "crime" president Gbagbo might have committed, what ever the circumstances, i still think for the sake of the much talked about reconciiation, Ouattara, shouldn't have passed such images on TV, just not at all, Gbagbo is the former president of CI and should be treated as such. This incident simply shows that ouattara is not very sure of what he is saying. Reconcilation with such images? No, for expect he is a sheep, he should have known it will polarise the country especially the south.
I thought this guy was serious, now i just know and belive, Gbagbo was right anywhere, that this guy is a stooge.

[Africa Jobs]

This man was foolish, he messed up and now he was picked up like a rat, highly humilated

[Anye T]

It is a pity African are still foolish and think the so-called UN and their western allies are coming to help them - they are coming to confuse you and steal your wealth.

Why are they not intervening in Yemen, Bahrain and Syria after all these massacres? These are barren lands. Any wise man will not go to a barren land - WHAT WILL BE THE PROFIT?

Then the UN sits and talks of 'democracy'! Does it exist? Five or six nations (Permanent security council member with veto rights) have the right to declare war on any nation they chose. Is that democracy? The UN is the greatest DICTATORSHIP on earth to benefit it's creators.

[Summer study abroad program]

I'm always excited to go to this weblog. Please keep on churning out the content. It's really entertaining.