ABIDJAN, Nov 21 (AFP) - Ahmadou Kourouma, Ivory Coast's leading novelist,
has become the latest victim of a witch hunt on figures suspected of
backing rebels in the country's bitter two-month conflict.
The local press has been questioning not only the sympathies but also
the nationality of the author -- the latter a sore point in Ivory Coast
politics.
Kourouma was born in 1927 near Boundiali in the Muslim majority north of
the country, which swiftly fell under control of the rebels after they took
up arms on September 19.
He is the author of "The Suns of Independence", "Waiting for the Vote of
the Wild Animals" and the still untranslated "Allah n'est pas oblige"
(Allah is not Bound), which won France's Renaudot literary price in 2000.
His novels are satires on the ills of modern African states and he is
particularly scornful of misrule by despotic leaders and servitude to old
colonial masters.
On Monday, the government daily Fraternite Matin ran a full-page article
by Communication Minister Sery Bailly vilifying the author.
Kourouma has, the minister wrote, become a victim of his roots as a
member of the Malinke, a mainly Muslim ethnic group in northern Ivory
Coast.
"The Malinke world informs the stance Kourouma adopts in his works. At
this time of ethnic division, we can see clearly how he always takes a
critical position based on his culture.
"But we can also see a change. He used to attack, now he has become
defensive," Bailly noted, taking care to point out that he penned the
article in 2001.
"Is he foremost Malinke or foremost a writer? How should we view his
writing and how does it serve us as a nation?"
Not long ago Bailly's predecessor as communications minister Dramane
Kone, referred to Kourouma as "our brother" and "the pride of Ivory Coast."
But the crisis, considered the worst Ivory Coast has seen since
independence from France in 1960, appears to have changed that.
The independent daily L'Inter last week asked: "Why is Ahmadou Kourouma
supporting the rebels?"
The newspaper answered its own question by suggesting the author feared
he would be exposed as a foreigner since the country's leadership had again
seized on the notion of Ivoirite -- a nationalist policy of exclusion
introduced by former Henri Bedie to keep his opponents out of office.
"Kourouma, the keeper of our consciences, is angry because people are
asking who are true Ivorians and who are not... He risks becoming an
outcast."
"The author has for some time been hiding the fact that his parents come
from Guinea. It appears that he is ashamed of this," the newspaper
concluded.
In a recent interview with AFP, Kourouma had argued for the resumption
of talks on national reconciliation and "elections that are open to all."
New elections are one of the central demands of the rebels who are
insisting that President Laurent Gbagbo, who has been elected until 2005,
step down.
The Ivorian leader had last year launched reconciliation talks to bury
social and political tensions and violence that came to a head after a coup
on Christmas Eve 1999.
"Gbagbo was on the verge of success with the forum for national
reconciliation before this tragedy befell us," Kourouma said.
But he added a damning critique of the embattled president.
"Gbagbo is surrounded by killers, this is worsening matters, it is
because of these killers that we are in such serious trouble."
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