CONTENTS | ANB-BIA HOMEPAGE | WEEKLY NEWS
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Côte
d’Ivoire |
SOCIAL ACTION
Displaced people are living through a nightmare. But now the ordinary people and the Church
are getting together to help themLet’s take a look at some word pictures — Emaciated children hold their bowls out for a little rice — Men and women beg humanitarian workers to give them more food because they haven’t eaten for several days — Hoards of people are on the roads fleeing from the combat zones. They carry bundles on their head and sometimes play a game of hide-and-seek with the rebels who don’t want to see them leaving — And there’s even refugees from Côte d’Ivoire in neighbouring countries (at one time more than 5,000), especially Malians, who’ve had to flee the fighting in Côte d’Ivoire. Some have started to return.
Ivoirians think they’re having nightmares. They’ve seen this kind of thing before but only on TV. They never thought to see it happening in their own country which had been known as: «A haven of peace in war-torn Africa»! And yet, the reality is there for all to see.
Since the rebellion against President Laurent Gbagbo’s government broke out on 19 September, people living in towns and cities occupied by the rebels, have been living through hell. Fear of renewed fighting has caused them to flee to «protected areas». And those who cannot, or who do not want to leave, die of hunger and disease, particularly in Bouaké, Côte d’Ivoire’s second city (the first is Abidjan). Bouaké’s population is between 600,000-1,000,000, and has been paying a heavy price in this «dirty war» caused by untrustworthy politicians.
The entire situation is a human catastrophe (in both medical and alimentary terms) due to the humanitarian organisations having great difficulty in providing relief aid. They have major problems in getting through to areas occupied by the rebels in spite of the supposed existence of «humanitarian corridors», and also because of the government’s «negligence» in dealing with the human and social dimensions of the conflict. The government seems more concerned with ensuring the army is properly equipped.
Thus, most of the initial aid given by the people went towards buying weapons. For example, there’s the 10 billion CFA francs offered to the Ivoirian Armed Forces (FANCI) — a «gift» somewhat forced from coffee/cocoa producers by the government, which needed a fresh injection of money for its desperately under-equipped army! Mrs. Clotilde Ohouochi is Minister for Cooperation, Health and Social Security. She says the «indecisiveness» in getting food to the needy, was because the government initially concentrated its efforts on «evacuating people towards reception and transit zones (Yamoussoukro, Daoukro, Me Bahiakro, Tiébissou) before tackling the thorny question of getting food to the occupied areas».
It was only on 30 September that the government got round to establishing organised humanitarian assistance. It does this through its Solidarity and Humanitarian Agency. Mrs. Ohouochi says the aim is to: «Coordinate help for disaster victims, by organizing collections of gifts, listing priorities and conveying assistance to those in need».
The Government wanted to coordinate the various relief activities which, in the absence of any official structure, were being carried out in a somewhat haphazard fashion by many international humanitarian organizations (e.g. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICCR); the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Doctors without Frontiers (MSF), United Nations Childrens Emergency Fund (UNICEF), the World Health Organisation (WHO), the World Food Programme (WFP), etc), which were called upon to assist disaster victims, especially those whose homes were destroyed during clashes in Abidjan, following the rebels’ initial attack. However, not much has been seen of the international organisations outside the capital, especially in the occupied zones.
There are three groups of disaster victims: People living in areas occupied by the rebels especially in Bouaké; people who’ve been «moved» to transit and reception areas; people whose homes and livelihood have been destroyed in Abidjan. There’s particular problems in the reception and transit areas, and especially in the occupied zones which the government cannot reach and where the international humanitarian organizations are operating, but in reduced numbers. Catholic organisations are mainly at work here, such as Caritas-Côte d’Ivoire and St.Camille’s Hospital.
The Catholic Church and relief work
St. Camille’s Centre was founded in 1983 to help mental patients. Its Director, Gregoire Ahongbonon, says that the Centre then extended its work to prisoners and, at the time of this present crisis, to specifically «humanitarian» work. He continues: «I had a stock of 22 tons of rice given by Caritas, the Ministry for Health and some friends both here and in France for the sick and those in prison. I’ve decided to share this food among the hungry population and especially those in real need». It’s true that the bad organization which has often characterized food distribution by international humanitarian organizations, led the famished people to invade St. Camille’s Centre. The front gate has frequently been forced open on a number of occasions by the crowd, shouting: «We’re hungry, we’re going to die!».
Another Catholic institution helping war victims, is Caritas-Côte d’Ivoire. Mr. Yacinthe Datien is the organisation’s secretary-general. He explains: «As part of the Catholic Church’s social work, we could not remain on the sidelines of what’s happening in Côte d’Ivoire.» At the outbreak of hostilities, Caritas-Côte d’Ivoire organized itself, setting up a crisis committee working with Caritas in every parish throughout the country. It has given rise to a great movement of national solidarity, and invites all Christians to help war victims.
Caritas’ first initiative in the present crisis was among the war victims in Abidjan, providing shelter, food and medicine. The organization is present in the reception and transit areas for people fleeing the war zones, especially those in Bouaké, and now those in Yamoussoukro, Me Bahiakro, Didiévi, Tiébissou and Sakassou. Caritas distributes food, clothing, blankets, medicines to everyone in need, and sometimes helps out in transport charges for those who are moving on elsewhere. because there are accommodation problems in the reception centres.
At the end of October, there were about 500 internally displaced people in Yamoussoukro with nowhere to go. Mr. Datien also visited Bouaké, where Caritas is in touch with the local parishes and a number of Catholic charitable organisations such as the Saint Camille Centre, which are already doing good work in spite of restricted means.
He also negotiated with the government and with the rebels to go to Korhogo in the north, to assess the situation in this part of occupied Côte d’Ivoire, but about which very little has been reported.
Where does Caritas get its resources from? First and foremost from Catholics, who respond favourably and generously to the Church’s call to help Côte d’Ivoire’s suffering people. Catholics bring gifts of money, clothing, medicine and food to their local Caritas branch. Caritas also gets help from Caritas-International — Caritas-Côte d’Ivoire belongs to a confederation of 154 Caritas sections in 198 countries worldwide which all help each other.
Yacinthe Datien says that the first reaction of people in distress is to turn to the Catholic Church. For a long time, there weren’t any government-run humanitarian services in Yamoussoukro, so displaced people arriving in the city went directly to Saint Augustine’s Cathedral.
The Cathedral staff has to look after the flood of humanity which arrives each day looking for help. Sometimes there’s more than 10,000 of them! The Cathedral staff issued an S.O.S and has received an enormous response. Like those women who 24h/24, are on voluntary kitchen duty providing hot meals whenever necessary.
Mrs Suzanne Brou is the Legion of Mary’s president and is in charge of kitchen arrangements. She says: «Because of the curfew, we sleep on the spot. People are constantly arriving and we must give them something to eat!».
Other Christian Churches and Muslims are more taken up with the «spiritual combat»: i.e. prayers for deliverance and intercession; exorcism; fasting and penance. It’s true that the Catholic Church has more charitable organizations. But most extraordinary of all is the population’s solidarity, who work as one to help their brothers and sisters in distress — i.e. those families of soldiers killed in the fighting; the displaced... Usually, in similar circumstances in Third World countries, calls for help go out to the international community. In Côte d’Ivoire, the people have risen to the occasion spontaneously, either individually or in groups, to make some contribution «to peace efforts». This began with giving blood; then went on to monetary gifts, food gifts, etc.
Patriotic spirit
Already by 15 September, national contributions for humanitarian assistance amounted to about 15 billion CFA francs, including the 10 billion provided by the cocoa/coffee producers. This excluded other types of gifts in kind and in effort — for example «Operation-1,000 Displaced», initiated by a small NGO, «The Cry». Their effort consisted in each volunteer helping displaced people in the reception centres.
Then there’s the Abidjan students who are not usually known for looking beyond their own needs, but who, on this occasion accommodated their fellow students from Bouaké, Korhogo and Daloa who could reach Abidjan, in their own rooms. And that’s not all —workers in both the public and private sectors decided by themselves to give 5% of their wages to the State for efforts towards peace. Ordinary people living outside Abidjan have been the first to help their family members in the occupied zones. Like those of Bouaké whose contributions amounted to 100 million CFA francs by the end of October. These were gifts in kind and in cash.
For some, this outburst of national feeling is one of the positive fruits of Ivoirian nationalism, but this patriotism must be properly channelled so as to avoid any fanaticism. Unfortunately, ever since the start of hostilities, various groups of «young patriots» have been organizing marches and meetings.
There’s also «self-defence committees» who want to make up for the lack of army personnel, but who already becoming obnoxious to the general public because of their rackets and bullying, etc. Worse may come once the war’s over because these young people who are already getting a taste for violence, could prove to be dangerous when peace finally arrives. Indeed, violence is already an everyday occurrence with «death squads» operating in government-controlled areas. Abidjan witnesses on a daily basis any number of kidnappings, arbitrary arrests and imprisonment. Murders take place and the guilty are never discovered.
In this so-called «patriotic fervour», there is a positive aspect. The «patriots» are determined that never again in Côte d’Ivoire will anybody be able to take over the running of the country by force. From now on, the only way, the democratic way, is through the ballot box. Another positive aspect is the people’s «network of support» whereby the State, in spite of what’s happening at the moment, has managed to avoid the humiliation of having to ask for external assistance to save the people. (And this is an exception among poor countries!) Even so, one wonders how long this extraordinary «network of support» can last.
- K.K. Man Jusu, Côte d’Ivoire, November 2002 — © Reproduction authorised, with usual acknowledgment