Heads of states from the 15 West African-country regional bloc, The Economic Community of West African States issued what it called an immutable demand from Abuja, Nigeria
during the week, calling on the erstwhile Ivorian President, Laurent
Gbagbo to make a peaceful exit from power. ECOWAS is also threatening
the use of ‘legitimate force’ to achieve the goals of the Ivorian
people.
Laurent Gbagbo came to power in 2000 after a competitive power tussle with coup leader, Robert Guei.
In
2002, he propitiously precipitated a debilitating conflict that divided
the the country into two governing regions. In the northern region, the
rebels held sway while the government controlled the southern region.
Before the contentious 28 November election took place, Gbagbo had either postponed or cancelled other scheduled elections in Ivory Coast.
The
28 November election was held with the help and understanding among all
concerned that the international community will supervise the
conduct to ensure fairness and transparency.At
the end of the run-off election which was largely acclaimed as free and
fair by international observers, the independent electoral body stated
that Laurent Gbagbo got 46 per cent of the votes cast while his opponent
Alasanne Quattara secured 54 percent of the votes. In a sizzling twist
of fate, Gbagbo came out within minutes of the announcement and
denounced the results, alleging electoral fraud in the rebel-held
northern region which serves as Quattara base. He ignited the
constitutional court almost instantaneously and used it to renounce the
result as declared by the electoral body and declared himself the
winner. He subsequently inaugurated himself as the president of Ivory Coast while Quattara assumed legitimacy of the same post.
At the moment, Ivory Coast
is a country with two Presidents. Gbagbo with the support of his armed
forces is occupying the presidential palace while Quattara who has been
holed up in the lagoon Golf hotel by Gbagbo army is seeing himself as
the rightful president. It is this political impasse that has pitched Laurent Gbagbo against the rest of the world today. The US,
the European Union and the United Nations have placed travel ban on
Gbagbo and his cohorts. Gbagbo's access to funds from ECOWAS regional
financial institutions has also been stopped. His assets have been
frozen by the international community.
In recent times, incidents of electural fruad have assumed an unpalatable dimension. It happened in Kenya
where a power sharing arrangement was adopted as the only solution
between Mwai kibaki and Raila Odinga. In Zimbawbe, Robert Mugabe and
Morgan Tsvangirai co-habited under a spurious political arrangement.
Obviously,
Gbagbo is hoping for some sort of political alignment that will still
perpetuate him in power. When measured against all known political
parameter, Gbagbo has lost all political decorum. He has thrown all
manner of decency, fairness, nascent dignity and sportsmanship into the
dustbin. Placed against a standard universal political barometer, hardly any African country has found it possible to function under theparaphernalia
of statehood The root causes of this can be traced from the days of
European colonialism when borders were created without due regard to
indigenous culture, traditional values and identity. Added to this, is
the near lack of institutional instruments of governance. Where there
exist semblance of same, it is use in most cases as instruments of
manipulation and intimidation by the governing parties. There is
also the penchant by most African heads of states to seat-tight in
office. Gbagbo has fallen short of all the above mentioned shortcomings
and has by hiscoccidian conduct, committed the lives of thousands of his country men and women into a vicious loom.
In order to ensure that the culprit does not profit from the steaming rave of chaos which he created in the first place, Ivory Coast
should be monitored carefully by all concerned. The International
Criminal Court, the United Nations, the African Union and the ECOWAS
countries should make sure that this does not turn into another Rwanda or Darfur.
Most
importantly, the ICC should start preparing charges against Gbagbo and
some of his lieutenants including the vociferous Youth Minister, Ble
Goude, who is said to be inciting violence in Ivory Coast. The world will like to see all these persons and their military henchmen in the Hague as soon as possible.
A situation where Africa
is irredeemably being hood-winked by the political laggards should be a
thing of the past. The threat of force by ECOWAS must be followed to a
realistic point before the entire continent is roped in a deadly
political implosion. Every effort must be made to remove Gbagbo now. If
anything, it will serve as a deterrent to other recalcitrant serving
heads of states in that region. His public naked dance excites only him
and his infamous followers who believe that power is all that is in
life. He must be stopped by all means possible. However, Maximum effort
should be made to recline the number of civiliancasualties.
Chief Ahmed Usman
Editor-in-chief