specifically to exclude Lebanese from citizenship (and thus political power) is the situation in Sierra Leone, where specific amendments to the law were made immediately after independence to exclude those not of “negro African descent” from citizenship by birth.138 Although, thanks to the indefinite transmission of nationality through the father under Lebanese law (as well as their access to potential other nationalities, including British and French), most Lebanese are probably not stateless, many are excluded from full participation in the life of the country where they live by the difficulties of accessing nationality in that country (or, if they have nationality by naturalisation, they are perceived as having simply bought that right). But challenges in accessing nationality are very widespread across the region among much less visible groups, among them many people whose parents or grandparents moved prior to the date of independence, and never obtained documentation as nationals of the new states. In most West African countries, a person with a family name that is “foreign” is likely to face consistent difficulties in establishing nationality papers. For example, in Senegal, an informal system exists whereby a person applying for a national identity card with a name that is “obviously” Senegalese (such as Diop or Ndiaye) needs only to produce a birth certificate and certificate of residence as supporting paperwork, but a person with a “foreign” family name, or a name that exists not only in Senegal but also in neighbouring countries (Cissé, Coulibaly, Bah, Diallo….) will be asked to go to court to obtain a certificate of nationality as proof of eligibility. Nonetheless, people who can show evidence that they themselves and one parent were born in the country will be able to establish their eligibility for nationality, even if the process is cumbersome.139 In Togo, meanwhile, an ad hoc commission looking into nationality law reform noted that it could be required to show the presence of ancestors in Togo for up to six generations to be able to obtain a “certificate of origin”, a document required (with no legal authority) before a certificate of nationality of origin could be issued, and which renders effectively inoperative the rights granted in the law to claim nationality based on birth in the territory (including for those who have no other nationality).140 The most obvious problems of this type are faced in Côte d’Ivoire, where the law includes no jus soli element, so that those born in the country over several generations still remain foreigners: one of the main reasons why Côte d’Ivoire is consistently cited as a country with a high percentage of residents who are non-nationals is because it is so difficult to become a national through the normal operation of the law, including for the descendants of those who were present on the territory at independence. (See box.) d’Ivoire”, African Affairs Vol.98, 1999, pp.79-99; Michael Humphrey, “Lebanese identities: between cities, nations and trans-nations”, Arab Studies Quarterly Vol.26 No.1, 2004, pp.31-50. 138 Bronwen Manby, Struggles for Citizenship in Africa, Zed Books, 2009, pp.56-66 139 Interviews at police commissariats, Casamance, May 2014. Even in Guinea, where law and practice allow those born in the country to obtain nationality at majority, a person with a foreign name may face difficulties from time to time: a person born in Guinea who legitimately held a Guinean birth certificate, identity card and passport, but whose family name was from Benin, was told to register his marriage with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as foreigners must do, rather than the commune as a national. Interview, Conakry, June 2014. 140 Rapport de la Commission ad hoc chargée de réviser les textes relatifs à la nationalité et de définir les modalités pratiques des audiences foraines d’établissement de certificats d’origine et de nationalité, Lomé, 1216 septembre 2011. 46