ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (AP) -- They cost just 15 cents and have
become a good buy for foreigners in Ivory Coast's bustling
commercial capital: little green, white, and orange rosettes that --
as symbols of national pride -- might protect against hatreds
unleashed by civil war.
Shocked by fighting that is wrecking their lives and their
country's international image, Ivorians are turning their anger
against immigrants, foreigners, former colonial master France and
rival ethnic groups.
As the government battles rebels who have seized half the
country, a nasty patriotic fervor grips Abidjan. The southern city,
once cherished as a cocoon of sophistication and stability in
troubled West Africa, is being infected by fear.
State radio tells residents to denounce suspected rebels.
Shantytowns populated by African immigrants, who were once welcomed
as cheap laborers, have been burned down. Curfews are killing the
city's once lively nightlife.
Ivory Coast's latest troubles began Sept. 19 in a sputter of
pre-dawn gunfire, when soldiers dismissed from the army for
suspected disloyalty made a grab for power. When the coup failed and
government troops ousted them from Abidjan after 12 hours of
fighting, the rebels marched north, capturing the cities of Bouake
and Korhogo, and giving weapons to recruits.
In the three weeks since, the rebels have beaten back
government offensives and extended their reach. They control much of
Ivory Coast's northern half, and have edged into lucrative
cocoa-growing regions.
The rebels, apparently disciplined and well-equipped, have
won support from mostly Muslim northerners, who long have felt that
Ivory Coast's largely Christian government in the south
discriminates against them.
But in the south, the rebellion has sparked anger and
patriotic fervor.
Locals have draped their country's colors -- green, white and
orange -- on buildings and car antennas. Donors have lined up to give
blood for "our valiant soldiers." Musicians have composed patriotic
songs.
"Stop, don't destroy my country," pleads one song airing
constantly on state television. The video shows charging elephants
and Abidjan's skyscrapers.
More ominously, the passions of war have stirred up ethnic,
religious and political divisions that long have simmered in Ivory
Coast but burst into the open during a 1999 coup attempt.
Most at risk are the 3 million immigrants from neighboring
Burkina Faso.
Many Ivorians in the south suspect that Muslim Burkina Faso
has a hand in the rebellion. Those suspicions have been flamed by
government claims that rebels are getting outside help.
Police have burned down Abidjan shantytowns where Burkina
Faso natives, or Burkinabes, live. Burkinabes have been shot at,
detained, paraded shirtless and shoeless before television cameras
as rebels, and subjected to daily police searches.
Pierre, a Burkinabe who has lived in Ivory Coast for 21
years and works as a security guard, said police raided his
shantytown days after the uprising and made him and several friends
lie on the floor of a neighbor's house.
"They said: 'Are you the Burkinabes?' I said 'Yes.' They
said: 'You came here to kill us, now you will see what we will do to
you.' Then, they fired twice at the ceiling," he recalled. "We had
to give them all the money we had."
Some Burkinabes and other immigrants have taken to wearing
the green, orange and white rosettes, or badges, to try to blend in.
But Pierre does not bother: scars on his face, a form of decoration
common in his homeland, mark him out as Burkinabe.
Burkinabe farmers form the backbone of Ivory Coast's labor
force. They work coffee and cocoa plantations, harvesting the green
cocoa pods in Ivory Coast, the world's largest producer of the bean
used to make chocolate. Their earnings support families back home,
where jobs are scarce.
Many came in the boom years after independence in 1960. But
after coffee and cocoa prices plunged in the 1980s, tensions mounted
between immigrants and Ivorians, who accuse them of taking jobs and
land.
In recent days, thousands of Burkinabe farmers and their
families have fled from the cocoa-belt town of Duekoue after locals,
who accused them of supporting the rebels, attacked their homes and
plantations.
Anti-foreign sentiment has risen so much that President
Laurent Gbagbo was moved to call for calm in a televised address
Tuesday.
"Foreigners are not our problem," he said. Gbagbo then
repeated the phrase three times.
Some Ivorians agree.
"I would ask our brothers not to attack foreigners," said
Alex, a 22-year-old student in Abidjan. "I don't think they have
anything to do with all this."
Some Europeans and Americans in Abidjan have sent their
children out of the country until things quiet down. Embassies
regularly warn their citizens to stay home when large marches are
planned in the city.
France, Ivory Coast's former colonial ruler, has become a
target because its embassy has sheltered the main opposition leader,
northern Muslim Alassane Dramane Ouattara, since the uprising began.
Some 20,000 French nationals live in Ivory Coast. They are
protected by 1,000 French troops, who, with U.S. forces, evacuated
some 2,500 foreigners from rebel areas shortly after the crisis
began.
Anti-French slogans are featured at marches supporting both
rebels and the government.
"If you cause chaos in the Ivory Coast, there is no boat, no
plane for you. All 20,000 will die," yelled a speaker at a pro-army
rally in the capital of Yamoussoukro this week.
The crowd cheered.
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