Out of Africa . . .

There is something terribly wrong going on in Cote d' Ivoire, or the Ivory Coast as we once were wont to call it. Remember the country's first president, Felix Houphouet-Boigny, in that remarkable era when Africa began to break free of colonial rule in the 1960s?
Of course, the process of African independence was set in motion through the granting of independence to the Gold Coast, or Ghana, in 1957. One fine morning, Kwame Nkrumah found himself transported straight from prison to the prime ministership of the new country.
Where Cote d'Ivoire is concerned, it has had its long moments of political fluctuations when the pendulum swung both ways. But this year's presidential elections should have been different. What has now emerged is a situation where the two men who contested the presidency refuse to accept defeat.
One of them, in this case President Laurent Gbagbo, has patently lost the election. There are clear grounds to think that Allasane Ouattara has been duly elected, that he should be taking over from Gbagbo, who has been in office since 2000. The country's election commission made it clear that Ouattara had won the election, that Gbagbo had come out the loser.
But that hardly mattered with the Cote d'Ivoire constitutional court, which decided in all its infinity of sycophancy that the decision of the election commission could be overturned and Gbagbo declared triumphant over Ouattara.
The result is a bizarre political condition at this point. Both Gbagbo and Ouattara have claimed the presidency and both have taken the oath of office. In other words, it is a volatile situation in Cote d'Ivoire today, with the potential for severe violence becoming increasingly a possibility. That certainly has the rest of the world worried.
Quite a similar thing appears to have taken over Guinea. Since the end of the long rule of the country's first leader Sekou Toure, Guinea has not quite been a stable place. When you observe the difficulties in which African nations have found themselves, particularly since they slowly began to inch their way toward western-style democracy, of a kind, you are quite inclined to ask if democracy as we know it is possible in Africa or even in large parts of Asia.
Congo went through an election some years ago, putting Joseph Kabila, the son of Laurent Kabila, firmly in office. That has hardly given any firmness to the country itself.
Nigeria has been going through its own problems. With Umaru Yar'Adua dying after a long illness, the country has been forced into a new round of elections. That is no guarantee, though, that Nigeria has turned into a symbol of stability. In Zimbabwe, the fragile alliance of President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsangvirai could come apart any moment.
If you turn your gaze towards Eritrea, you will likely be assailed by thoughts of a depressing nature. There used to be a time when Issaias Afewerki and his band of guerrillas offered a rainbow of hope to their people as they waged a guerrilla war against the Ethiopians. Afewerki and his team began well, earning the admiration of the world for the simplicity and humility they brought into government.
Now, nearly two decades into freedom, Eritreans find that they cannot have a set of new people in charge because President Afewerki will have nothing to do with elections. His idealism has mutated into politics of the authoritarian kind. Much a similar case can you find in Ethiopia, where Afewerki's friend turned enemy, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, brooks no opposition and is only too happy locking up anyone who has the temerity to disagree with him. It is not a pretty sight.
Gbagbo's refusal to part with power in Cote d'Ivoire is but symbolic of what seems to be happening in major parts of Africa. Libya's Muammar Gaddafi, in power since 1969, is not keen to make way for a new generation of leaders. But if he ever is, it will likely be his son Saif he could well be thinking of placing at the top. In Egypt, an aging and ailing Hosni Mubarak, in office since 1981, is determined to hang on till son Gamal is ready to assume charge.
Elections are yet a new phenomenon in Africa. One will recall the elections in Kenya a few years ago, an exercise which led to the deaths of thousands of people. Ruling politicians in the continent, having lost elections, have nevertheless refused to pass the torch on to the victors.
In an earlier era, it used to be that presidents and prime ministers were overthrown, absolutely illegally, in coups d'etat by their own military commanders. These days, elections, because of the controversy they get mired in, fail to inaugurate a new phase in politics in the continent.

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