Cote d'Ivoire: the federation option.

Permit me to comment on Cote d'Ivoire which you dealt with in a recent editorial (Lessons in how to Wreck an Economy, African Business, January 2005). A difficult and dangerous situation has been brewing in this West African country, formerly cited as one of Africa's economic success stories, for many years.

However, rather than deal with the root cause of the problem, our leaders sat on the fence claiming that foreign interference could not be countenanced but nevertheless calling for foreign assistance. As might have been predicted, the problem was not addressed and mayhem eventually developed.

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The problems will worsen if a realistic solution is not found soon.

We must acknowledge the fault lines of the country that have fundamental religious, ethnic and economic causes that are too deep for cosmetic solutions.

The current government will not allocate the Ministry of Defence to the rebels and consequently the rebels will not disarm. It is not just the rebels and the government who do not trust each other; trust between ordinary Ivorians is non existent.

The best hope lies in federating the country so that the two factions have a chance to live peaceably together.

Federate the country into a north and a south entity, and both sides might be able to re-establish some semblance of a peaceful status quo where normal trade links can resume operations.

This federal option would mean that two governorships, one each for the north and south, would need to be created. Each governor would answer to Cote d'Ivoire's president. Laws to deal with racial or ethnic discrimination would also need to be promulgated.

The conflict is about nationality, the bane of Africa. The current national borders are colonialist creations aimed at dividing and thence weakening ethnic groupings. A prime example in West Africa is how the colonialists divided the Ewe people in creating Togo and Ghana. Similarly, the north-south economic problem in Cote d'Ivoire mirror Ghana's experience of the colonial power blocking economic development in the north to create willing labour for the south.

Undoubtedly some of the so-called foreigners in Cote d'Ivoire are Ivorian. The accusations leveled by both the Cote d'Ivoire government and AU/Ecowas are hollow. France created the Ivorian mirage of an economic miracle and national identity so it is clear that France is historically to blame. Yet if France had not recently intervened in the Ivorian crisis, the current conflict would have worsened.

No one can develop Africa except Africans. Foreigners can be expected to exploit Africans while pretending to offer solutions. And I do not mean only Western foreigners! Our Ghanaian elders say that if you allow a fire in your house to burn, your enemies enter with the pretext of helping.

When Ecomog intervened in Liberia in the 1990s, Liberians swiftly understood that the acronym meant Every Car Or Movable Object Gone.

The lull in Cote d'Ivoire will not last for long. We must act now.

Daniel A Allan

Indian Institute of Technology

Roorkee, India