The French Foreign Legion: Peace Keeping in the Ivory Coast

By Yann Michel
Photos by Jonathan Alpeyrie

    As the legionnaires march slowly down the main street of the town of Bangolo, in the country of the Ivory Coast in Africa, their faces are as diverse as their nationalities, but the same chant comes out of their lungs. The small ceremony is meant to honor a new captain of the 3rd company of the 2nd foreign infantry regiment. “A sober ceremony, but full of meaning”, says the lieutenant colonel de Saint Chamas, the superior officer in charge of the 600 or so legionnaires protecting the “safe zone.” The French Foreign legion covers a major part of the Western part of the Ivory Coast. Called the Man region, a very dangerous and sensitive zone, which separates the governmental forces (referred to as FANCI) in the South, and the rebels (FAFN) in the North.

    The lieutenant colonel gives the company’s flag to the new captain. The meal starts with a drinking ritual, called “la poussiere.” Each legionnaire holding a glass of wine filled up to the top, drinks it quickly before eating. At one extremity of the room a legionnaire in full uniform, sweating from the humidity, stands by himself at attention under the imposing foreign legion flag while the others eat. A sergeant says: “That is not a punishment, that is an honor”.

    “Honor and loyalty”. This motto of the legion is at all times present in the everyday life of the legionnaire: in camp, at war, or in his private life. As lieutenant Sacchi said: “The legion never retreats, she always moves forward, slowly sometimes, but surely”.

    Indeed, the legion occupies a delicate and volatile region in the Western part of the country. The Man region, with its rich and fertile green landscape, sits between two front lines: the south controlled by the FANFI government forces, and the North by the FAFN rebels. In the middle region, a mere 600 hundred legionnaires, based in Douekoue. The creation of this buffer zone has helped to stabilize the military and political situation in the region. Most civilians have resumed their lives as schools have reopened and the administrative buildings are up and working. In the rebel areas, such infrastructures are non-existent.

    The Legions primary mission in the Ivory Coast is to allow a smooth and secure troop replacement of the 4,200 French troops by 6,000 UN soldiers scheduled to be deployed on a mission to help facilitate political reunification of the Ivory Coast, caught in years of armed conflict.

    Patrols by the legion, on foot and armored vehicles, are meant to maintain the borders of the Man Zone. Daily patrols alongside the major road axes, searches inside villages for weapon caches, and varied checkpoints for searching individuals and motor vehicles for weapon smuggling keep the Legions presence out on the street, and the rebels guessing their next move.

    Legion officers regularly visit the mayors of the surrounding villages to learn the needs of the community and to acquire information on possible rebel activity. Until the UN’s arrival, the Legion must resolve domestic disturbances and human rights abuses. The chief of the village of Yacouba asked the legionnaires to resolve a dispute between two men fighting for the same woman. In order to address such problems, French officers working in the field put together mixed brigades (BMGs) of policemen, ex-rebels and government soldiers to enforce the rule of law.

    The stability of the region depends on containing the rebel forces in the North, both volatile, and impossible to predict. Legion officer’s regularly meet with the rebel leaders to gauge their motivations. These meetings allow the French to evaluate the readiness and aggressiveness of the rebel factions.

    “Commander Talby is a thug…go talk to the villagers living inside his controlled zone and see if they are happy to be under commandant Talby’s joke”, said one legion captain while on patrol. The rebel commander’s men live off the land, as do most of the 20,000 rebels, extorting the locals for food, lodging, and money.

    At times the patrols, no more than a dozen men and a few armored vehicles, find themselves surrounded by dozens of heavily armed rebels. Creating a perimeter around their vehicles, their backs against one another, the legion remain calm even as insults and other provocations are slung their way. Last December a patrol came under attack, and in fierce fighting 60 locals and rebel fighters were killed in the fighting.

    However, there have been very few firefights in the last year due in part to the respect the Legion has established with the rebel and government forces. With the deployment of UN troops from Bangladesh (not popular amongst the local population), the rebel and government groups may be quick to take advantage of this new troop rotation. Already the UN was unable to resume talks about the proposed date for the FAFM rebels to disarm. With a new security force on the ground, the security situation will potentially change.