The Economist February 26th 2022 Middle East & Africa 47borderwithitwillbe“evenmoreinfested
and that terrorists groups will strengthen”.
A special-forces commander from Niger
laments that his men are “not winning”.
Neither, he says, are the terrorists. A rising
toll of civilians suggests otherwise.
Mr Bazoum is counting on France mov-
ing many of its troops to Niger, but some
Nigeriens worry that hosting more foreign
troops will fuel anti-French sentiment, of
which there are already signs. In Novem-
ber two people were killed in a clash with
French forces trying to extricate a convoy
that had been blocked by protesters.
Governments across the region are try-
ing to tread a fine line. Their soldiers often
want foreign help to fight terrorists, yet
many of their fellow citizens do not. As
France considers where to deploy soldiers
in the region “we must be sure that the
presence of foreign units will be welcomed
by the local population,” says Colonel Pas-
cal Ianni, the French army spokesman.
Where that might be “is not so obvious”.
A widening of the war will force hard
choices. Jihadists are “moving south at a
rate that is alarming”, says Brigadier Gener-
al Felicia Twum-Barima, the Ghanaian de-
fence attaché in Ivory Coast. “They are
looking to get to the coast.” Since 2020 jiha-
dists have attacked Ivory Coast about 16
times, killing at least 22 members of the se-
curity forces. In Benin attacks are acceler-
ating. Ghana has thus far avoided violence
but jihadist groups have reportedly estab-
lished cells there and Ghanaian militants
have claimed attacks in Mali.
Ghana has moved troops to its north
and created its first special-forces unit. In
2020 Ivory Coast doubled to about 3,000
the number of soldiers deployed in its
northern frontier regions. Yet poor soldier-
ing was evident among even elite troops at
Flintlock. Many did not know how to check
a pulse or apply a tourniquet, says an
American medic. Civilian engagement and
building trust with locals “is quite new for
them”, admits one Dutch trainer. Units ear-
marked for winning over locals often exist
“only on paper”, says another.
Troops are only part of the solution.
“We have learnt lessons from Mali and Bur-
kina,” says Mamadou Touré, the Ivorian
minister of youth. “They did not have a so-
cial response, the state was absent.” In Jan-
uary Patrick Achi, the prime minister, an-
nounced about $55m of spending to help
young people in the north, insisting that
they would be “neither neglected nor for-
gotten”. This is part of a plan to spend
$5.5bn on social programmes around the
country over the next three years, in part to
build resilience against jihadism. The re-gion’s Western allies should also pitch in,
says a senior Ivorian defence official, add-
ing that poverty, not ideology, drives the
extremists’ recruitment.
Worryingly, coastal countries may be
repeating mistakes made in the Sahel
where members of the Fulani ethnic group
(many of whom are herders) are frequently
blamed for jihadist attacks. This has fu-
elled violent ethnic clashes and deepened
cleavages that the jihadists can exploit. In
Ivory Coast the defence minister recently
blamed attacks on the “Fulani of Burkina”.
In Ghana the authorities regularly kill ani-
mals belonging to herders. Sometimes
herders themselves are killed. Thatisex-
actly the sort of approach that propagates,
rather than quells, jihadist attacks.Ivorians prepare for the onslaught
I
f heisinatightspot,saysTrouble
Kalua, people mention his name, ask-
ing, “What do you expect?” Shortly before
his birth in Malawi, his father had lost
his job as a bus conductor, impover-
ishing the family. Then the baby nearly
died. “This boy is trouble,” his father
said. “His name is Trouble.”
Across Africa names can have a story
behind them. Yewande, for instance, is a
Yoruba name meaning “mother has paid
me a visit”, given when an older female
relative dies just before a girl is born.
Kiptanui may hint at a difficult birth for
mothers who speak one of the Kalenjin
group of languages in Kenya.
But southern Africa stands out for
nominative creativity, at least when it
comes to English names. Ask Zimba-
bweans about their school friends and
you will hear an eclectic register: Love-
more, Hopewell, Innocence, Tedious,
Patience, Knowledge, Fortune, Brilliant,
God Knows. A Malawian (himself Gold-
en) lists friends named Goodfriday,
Wisdom, Iron and BoyBoy.
Names illuminate power and oppres-
sion. Under apartheid in South Africa
many black people took on English
names, some under pressure from boss-
es too lazy to pronounce their real ones;
others to avoid standing out in a system
designed to strip black people of their
history, dignity and identity. In his mem-
oir, “Born A Crime”, Trevor Noah, a come-
dian, says that since African names were
used at home, English ones often re-
ceived little thought. He recalls the ex-
ample of his friend Hitler, who was
named because the original Hitler “was
so powerful that...black people had to goandhelpwhitepeoplefightagainsthim”.
In Zimbabwe children were long
given African names with meaning. This
practice switched after British colonisa-
tion, when having an English name was
seen as a way of getting ahead. Names
may refer to circumstances around the
birth, a quality parents see in the child,
an aspiration for them—or even for the
country. Under white rule some children
were called Democracy, Freedom or,
allegedly, Polling Station. Other names
suggested progress. One venture capital-
ist recalls school friends named Comput-
er and, unless he was winding your
correspondent up, Crankshaft.
Do names shape character? Zimba-
bweans wryly noted that one Reward
Marufu, a late brother-in-law of Robert
Mugabe, did well out of his relative’s
corrupt regime. But Mr Kalua says he is
Trouble by name, not by nature. “Great
sense of humour, friendly, patient, kind,
loving. Nothing like trouble at all!”
Names, and the language they are in,
reflect changing times, too. In Zimba-
bwe, whose economy is collapsing, one
comes across people named No Money.
In many places African names are sup-
planting English ones. In recent years in
South Africa, Enzokuhle (“to do good” in
Xhosa), has become one of the most
popular names, perhaps inspired by a
popular song, “Enzo”.
It may be that names such as Salad
Nthenda will become relics. The Malawi-
an, whose mother ate lots of vegetables
when pregnant, says his “name felt good
from day one”. He loves the “unique-
ness”. Although he is teased at times, he
does not give a toss.NamesinsouthernAfricaHere comes Trouble
JOHANNESBURG AND LILONGWE
The creative and revealing process of deciding what to call a baby