Friday, April 5, 2013

Ivory Coast Violence & D'Souza's Whiteman


From yesterday's BBC article "Mass grave exhumed in Abidjan:"
Ivory Coast's government has started to exhume the mass graves of people killed in the violence that hit the country after the disputed 2010 election. Justice Minister Gnenema Coulibaly observed a moment of silence as a grave on the grounds of a mosque in the main city, Abidjan, was dug up. More than 3,000 people died after Laurent Gbagbo refused to cede power to current President Alassane Ouattara. The conflict ended after French-backed forces captured him in April 2011. Mr Gbagbo was handed over to the International Criminal Court. Judges are still to decide whether to put him on trial over the post-poll violence.
For a novel about violence in Ivory Coast, try Whiteman by Tony D'Souza:
Jack Diaz is a young American relief worker in a Muslim village in the Ivory Coast, part of an endeavor to bring potable water to the impoverished villagers. As it becomes more and more apparent that he cannot achieve his original goal, he drifts into various projects from hunting to farming to teaching villagers about AIDS prevention to taking up ill-advised love affairs. Tensions between Muslims and Christians mount and add to the layers of cultural and political nuances that Jack struggles to understand.

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