Congrès Panafricaine des Jeunes Patriotes
Encyclopedia
The Congrès Panafricain des Jeunes et des Patriotes (COJEP), commonly known as Young Patriots, of Côte d'Ivoire
is the name given to a youth movement supportive of the former President of Côte d'Ivoire, Laurent Gbagbo
and his ruling Ivorian Popular Front
(FPI) party. Its founder, and current leader, is Charles Blé Goudé
.
Set up in June 2001, the group has attracted controversy and international condemnation due to its alleged involvement in extra-judicial killing
s and demonstrations organised by the group which have often turned violent. The organisation is nationalist and opposed to the Islamification of the country, Gbagbo's supporters tend to be Christians
from the south, as opposed to the rebel forces from the largely Muslim
north, which had been fighting a war with the government from 2002 to 2006. The organisation itself claims that it rejects violence, and that it has been misrepresented in the Western
media, especially that of France
.
within the country. The new movement he set up was fiercely supportive of Laurent Gbagbo, who had been elected the previous year.
On September 26, 2002, within a week of the failed coup d'etat
by the Ivorian army, Blé Goudé, who was in Manchester
finishing a degree, flew back to Abidjan
to mobilise the COJEP along with several other youth movements, merging them into a more militant version of the group called Alliance des jeunes patriotes pour le sursaut national
("Youth Alliance for National Survival").
This new organisation incorporated:
In January 2003, they prevented Dominique de Villepin
from leaving the presidential palace for three quarters of an hour.
In November 2004, the Young Patriots attacked French homes and businesses, forcing thousands of white people to flee, as they were thought to be French. This was fuelled by anger over France's perceived role in the civil war. In addition, France was said to be interfering in the economy
and maintaining the country as a client state
. Calls for violence against whites and non-Ivorians were broadcast on national radio and TV after the Young Patriots seized control of its offices. The attacks drew international condemnation, and Kofi Annan
described the group as a militia
.
In October 2005, elections which were due to be held in Cote d'Ivoire were cancelled, after Gbagbo used a law which allowed him to stay in power. The UN, already accused of having taken a stance sympathetic to the French as well as the rebels, criticised this, and this led to a series of protests in January
of the following year.
to be dissolved and for Gbagbo's mandate to end.
During the days that followed, two thousand youths clashed with UN peacekeepers. The Young Patriots seized control of the offices of Cote d'Ivoire's state-owned television channel, RTI, and broadcast repeated messages to attack the UN base in Daloa
, as well as French targets. They also reportedly ransacked a community radio station, Radio Tchrato-Daloa which had refused to let them in, as well as besieging a UN base and the French embassy for two days, until on 20 January, Ble Goude called for them to go home and "clean up the streets".
". They claim that France, which formerly colonised the country, has a stranglehold on the Ivorian economy, with most ports and major companies being French-owned.
Up until the start of the civil war, millions of refugees had entered Cote D'Ivoire from neighbouring countries such as Mali
, Burkina Faso
, Liberia
and Sierra Leone
to escape hunger and conflict. This produced resentment in the native population, as immigrants which provided cheap labour were perceived to be taking their jobs, especially in poorer areas of Abidjan, where support for the Young Patriots is strongest. The Young Patriots are hostile to the rebel forces in the north of the country, which is largely dominated by Muslims, often poor migrant worker
s from neighbouring nations.
Only people between the ages of 20 and 32, of Ivorian
descent or whose parents are both Ivorian, are allowed to become members of the organisation. This policy excludes many people from the north of the country, who migrated there during the colonial era. The organisation has been blamed for violent attacks on "foreigners" who do not match this definition.
The organisation is heavily supportive of Gbagbo, and Blé Goudé, its leader, has been described as "the fourth most powerful man in the country". Despite the violent actions by some demonstrators, he compares himself to Gandhi and Martin Luther King, and claims to use pacifist
resistance.
Côte d'Ivoire
The Republic of Côte d'Ivoire or Ivory Coast is a country in West Africa. It has an area of , and borders the countries Liberia, Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso and Ghana; its southern boundary is along the Gulf of Guinea. The country's population was 15,366,672 in 1998 and was estimated to be...
is the name given to a youth movement supportive of the former President of Côte d'Ivoire, Laurent Gbagbo
Laurent Gbagbo
Laurent Koudou Gbagbo served as the fourth President of Côte d'Ivoire from 2000 until his arrest in April 2011. A historian by profession, he is also an amateur chemist and physicist....
and his ruling Ivorian Popular Front
Ivorian Popular Front
The Ivorian Popular Front , known by its French initials FPI, is a centre-left, democratic socialist and social democratic, political party in Côte d'Ivoire....
(FPI) party. Its founder, and current leader, is Charles Blé Goudé
Charles Blé Goudé
Charles Blé Goudé is an Ivorian political leader, born at Guibéroua, in the center west of the country.-Creator of the Young Patriots:...
.
Set up in June 2001, the group has attracted controversy and international condemnation due to its alleged involvement in extra-judicial killing
Extra-judicial killing
An extrajudicial killing is the killing of a person by governmental authorities without the sanction of any judicial proceeding or legal process. Extrajudicial punishments are by their nature unlawful, since they bypass the due process of the legal jurisdiction in which they occur...
s and demonstrations organised by the group which have often turned violent. The organisation is nationalist and opposed to the Islamification of the country, Gbagbo's supporters tend to be Christians
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
from the south, as opposed to the rebel forces from the largely Muslim
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
north, which had been fighting a war with the government from 2002 to 2006. The organisation itself claims that it rejects violence, and that it has been misrepresented in the Western
Western world
The Western world, also known as the West and the Occident , is a term referring to the countries of Western Europe , the countries of the Americas, as well all countries of Northern and Central Europe, Australia and New Zealand...
media, especially that of France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
.
History
Blé Goudé founded COJEP in June 2001, at the end of his term as the head of another youth movement in Cote D'Ivoire, after it had suffered an ideological split and become deeply politicised, with one section allying itself to a military juntaMilitary dictatorship
A military dictatorship is a form of government where in the political power resides with the military. It is similar but not identical to a stratocracy, a state ruled directly by the military....
within the country. The new movement he set up was fiercely supportive of Laurent Gbagbo, who had been elected the previous year.
On September 26, 2002, within a week of the failed coup d'etat
Coup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
by the Ivorian army, Blé Goudé, who was in Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
finishing a degree, flew back to Abidjan
Abidjan
Abidjan is the economic and former official capital of Côte d'Ivoire, while the current capital is Yamoussoukro. it was the largest city in the nation and the third-largest French-speaking city in the world, after Paris, and Kinshasa but before Montreal...
to mobilise the COJEP along with several other youth movements, merging them into a more militant version of the group called Alliance des jeunes patriotes pour le sursaut national
Alliance des jeunes patriotes pour le sursaut national
The Alliance des jeunes patriotes pour le sursaut national commonly known as Young Patriots, of Côte d'Ivoire.- Organisation :A youth movement supportive of the President of Côte d'Ivoire, Laurent Gbagbo and his ruling Ivorian Popular Front party...
("Youth Alliance for National Survival").
This new organisation incorporated:
- COJEP - Blé Goudé's original organisation
- la Fédération des étudiants et scolaires de Côte d'Ivoire (FESCI) - another student organisation loyal to Gbagbo
- The campaign to repatriate Alassane OuattaraAlassane OuattaraAlassane Dramane Ouattara is an Ivorian politician who has been President of Côte d'Ivoire since 2011. An economist by profession, Ouattara worked for the International Monetary Fund and the Central Bank of West African States , and he was the Prime Minister of Côte d'Ivoire from November 1990 to...
, an Ivorian MuslimMuslimA Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
politician and opponent of Gbagbo who originally came from Burkina FasoBurkina FasoBurkina Faso – also known by its short-form name Burkina – is a landlocked country in west Africa. It is surrounded by six countries: Mali to the north, Niger to the east, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Côte d'Ivoire to the southwest.Its size is with an estimated...
. - Thierry Legré's "Movement for the Republican Conscience".
In January 2003, they prevented Dominique de Villepin
Dominique de Villepin
Dominique Marie François René Galouzeau de Villepin is a French politician who served as the Prime Minister of France from 31 May 2005 to 17 May 2007....
from leaving the presidential palace for three quarters of an hour.
In November 2004, the Young Patriots attacked French homes and businesses, forcing thousands of white people to flee, as they were thought to be French. This was fuelled by anger over France's perceived role in the civil war. In addition, France was said to be interfering in the economy
Economy of Côte d'Ivoire
The Ivorian economy is largely market based and depends heavily on the agricultural sector. Almost 70% of the Ivorian people are engaged in some form of agricultural activity. Côte d'Ivoire is among the world's largest producers and exporters of coffee, cocoa beans, and palm oil...
and maintaining the country as a client state
Client state
Client state is one of several terms used to describe the economic, political and/or military subordination of one state to a more powerful state in international affairs...
. Calls for violence against whites and non-Ivorians were broadcast on national radio and TV after the Young Patriots seized control of its offices. The attacks drew international condemnation, and Kofi Annan
Kofi Annan
Kofi Atta Annan is a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh Secretary-General of the UN from 1 January 1997 to 31 December 2006...
described the group as a militia
Militia
The term militia is commonly used today to refer to a military force composed of ordinary citizens to provide defense, emergency law enforcement, or paramilitary service, in times of emergency without being paid a regular salary or committed to a fixed term of service. It is a polyseme with...
.
In October 2005, elections which were due to be held in Cote d'Ivoire were cancelled, after Gbagbo used a law which allowed him to stay in power. The UN, already accused of having taken a stance sympathetic to the French as well as the rebels, criticised this, and this led to a series of protests in January
January 2006
January 2006: ← – January – February – March – April – May – June – July – August – September – October – November – December – →-1 January 2006 :...
of the following year.
January 2006 events
January 16, 2006, the Young Patriots were involved in violent demonstrations against the UN, and in one incident, at least four were killed after an exchange of fire at a UN peacekeeper's camp. UN peacekeepers are allowed to shoot if they come under violent attack. The crisis began after UN mediators called for the National Assembly of Côte d'IvoireNational Assembly of Côte d'Ivoire
The National Assembly of Côte d'Ivoire is Côte d'Ivoire's unicameral legislative body. Evolved from semi-representative bodies of the French Colonial period, the first National Assembly was constituted on 27 November 1960 with 70 elected member in accordance with the Constitution of 31 October...
to be dissolved and for Gbagbo's mandate to end.
During the days that followed, two thousand youths clashed with UN peacekeepers. The Young Patriots seized control of the offices of Cote d'Ivoire's state-owned television channel, RTI, and broadcast repeated messages to attack the UN base in Daloa
Daloa
Daloa is a town in Daloa Department of Côte d'Ivoire, lying west of Yamoussoukro in Haut-Sassandra Region. It has a population of over 100,000. The town is a regional capital and an important trading centre, particularly for cocoa...
, as well as French targets. They also reportedly ransacked a community radio station, Radio Tchrato-Daloa which had refused to let them in, as well as besieging a UN base and the French embassy for two days, until on 20 January, Ble Goude called for them to go home and "clean up the streets".
Ideology
The Young Patriots describe themselves as fighting against "neo-colonialism and imperialismImperialism
Imperialism, as defined by Dictionary of Human Geography, is "the creation and/or maintenance of an unequal economic, cultural, and territorial relationships, usually between states and often in the form of an empire, based on domination and subordination." The imperialism of the last 500 years,...
". They claim that France, which formerly colonised the country, has a stranglehold on the Ivorian economy, with most ports and major companies being French-owned.
Up until the start of the civil war, millions of refugees had entered Cote D'Ivoire from neighbouring countries such as Mali
Mali
Mali , officially the Republic of Mali , is a landlocked country in Western Africa. Mali borders Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west. Its size is just over 1,240,000 km² with...
, Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso – also known by its short-form name Burkina – is a landlocked country in west Africa. It is surrounded by six countries: Mali to the north, Niger to the east, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Côte d'Ivoire to the southwest.Its size is with an estimated...
, Liberia
Liberia
Liberia , officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Sierra Leone on the west, Guinea on the north and Côte d'Ivoire on the east. Liberia's coastline is composed of mostly mangrove forests while the more sparsely populated inland consists of forests that open...
and Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone , officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Guinea to the north and east, Liberia to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west and southwest. Sierra Leone covers a total area of and has an estimated population between 5.4 and 6.4...
to escape hunger and conflict. This produced resentment in the native population, as immigrants which provided cheap labour were perceived to be taking their jobs, especially in poorer areas of Abidjan, where support for the Young Patriots is strongest. The Young Patriots are hostile to the rebel forces in the north of the country, which is largely dominated by Muslims, often poor migrant worker
Migrant worker
The term migrant worker has different official meanings and connotations in different parts of the world. The United Nations' definition is broad, including any people working outside of their home country...
s from neighbouring nations.
Only people between the ages of 20 and 32, of Ivorian
Ivoirité
The word Ivoirité was first used by Henri Konan Bédié in 1995. It initially referred to the common cultural identity of all those living in Côte d'Ivoire, especially foreigners in Ivory Coast .However, nationalist and xenophobic ideas fanned by politics and the press changed it to mean...
descent or whose parents are both Ivorian, are allowed to become members of the organisation. This policy excludes many people from the north of the country, who migrated there during the colonial era. The organisation has been blamed for violent attacks on "foreigners" who do not match this definition.
The organisation is heavily supportive of Gbagbo, and Blé Goudé, its leader, has been described as "the fourth most powerful man in the country". Despite the violent actions by some demonstrators, he compares himself to Gandhi and Martin Luther King, and claims to use pacifist
Pacifism
Pacifism is the opposition to war and violence. The term "pacifism" was coined by the French peace campaignerÉmile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress inGlasgow in 1901.- Definition :...
resistance.