Defusing 'ethnic Timebomb' In Abidjan Barrios After Tense Election

Abidjan, Nov 7 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 7th Nov, 2020 ) :After deadly clashes between rival communities erupted over Ivory Coast's contested election, former Abidjan city official Vincent Toh Bi was quick to get out into the city's slums.

Tensions were high after President Alassane Ouattara was relected to a third term this week following an election marred by clashes and a boycott by opponents who say his mandate is unconstitutional.

Nearly 50 people were killed in violence that erupted mostly in provincial towns such as Daoukro and Bonoua where local ethnic groups allied to the opposition battled Dioula communities who are seen as close to Ouattara.

"What happened in places like Dabou, Daoukro and Bonoua, that could easily happen here," said Toh Bi in Abidjan's Boussangadougou slum.

Like many provincial areas, Boussangadougou is a combustible mix of different ethnic groups and migrants from Burkina Faso to the north.

"It's a very volatile situation," the ex-city administrator said. "The key word is anticipation. When there is a crisis, the first victims are in these precarious places." In Boussangadougou, houses constructed from wood and tin are covered in black plastic bags as protection against a season when thunderstorms are abundant.

Accompanied by a group that includes a retired police commissioner and a village chief, Toh Bi takes his "New Dawn" project into high-risk neighbourhoods.

First, he organises a game of Chinese whispers to show residents how words can end up being manipulated and warped.

He whispers "What he is doing is not normal" -- and by the end of the line, the phrase has morphed into "That guy, I'm going to finish him." Residents taking part are surprised.

"That was with just 22 people. Imagine for a city, or for 24 million Ivorians, with millions on Facebook and social media," he said.

"If someone says they are going to kill you, are you going to believe them?" "It's good.

This gives us ideas. We are scared of violence, with all that is happening around us," said one young gardener from Burkina Faso.

Both sides in the election standoff accused each other inciting tensions between communities for election gain.

Often Ivorian politics has been defined by a leader's community or regional loyalties in a country with more than 60 ethnic groups.

- Always talking - Clashes over the election in the provinces usually started with an opposition rally and descended into inter-community clashes between armed youths, barricades set up in streets and shops and homes burned.

Aicha Toure, 24, from northern Ivory Coast, thinks of her two children.

"I am scared. Without kids I could run away, but with kids that is difficult. I always pray for god to protect our neighbourhood," she said. "We are all Africans." She said her brother-in-law was passing a region where pro-opposition Agni ethnic group had set up roadblocks. He was forced to show his ID card.

"When they saw he was Burkinabe, they wanted to slash him with machetes. It's all about ethnicity," she said.

"They told him he was a Dioula... So we were afraid when we see ethnic groups killed each other. But here, we are like a family." Mare Madi, a waiter of Bete ethnic group, says most in the neighbourhood work to stop any tensions building to violence.

"There are all kinds of communities here. It's like a village. There is no conflict," Madi said. "We are afraid this kind of violence will happen here, that's why we always stay in touch. We always talk to each other."For Christophe Gouba, spokesman for the village chief, it also means telling young people not to meddle in politics and reminding them they are all from the same neighbourhood.

"It can quickly go one way or the other," Toh Bi said. "But with communication, with discussion, we can solve problems."