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Ivory Coast: Western hand at play
Sunday, 23 January 2011 15:59
The standoff between the two rivals for presidential power in Ivory Coast, incumbent Laurent Gbagbo and Alassane Ouattara, is bad enough without the
obvious interest of some western powers, whose interference in African electoral processes is now a given truth. The delicate situation in that country means there should be more determined efforts from the African Union and the disputing parties to bring the logjam to an end, and the fact that some countries in the West have an obvious stake in the outcome is exacerbating an already festering s
cenario. The presidential elections that should have been organised in 2005 were postponed until November 2010, with the preliminary results announced by the Electoral Commission showing a loss for Gbagbo in favour of his rival, former prime minister Alassane Ouattara.
It goes without say that the ruling FPI was within its rights when it contested the results before the Constitutional Council, charging massive fraud in the northern departments controlled by the rebels of the Forces Nouvelles de Côte d'Ivoire (FNCI).
These charges were contradicted by international observers, also within their rights.
But now the report of the results has led to severe tension and violent incidents. The Constitutional Council, which consists of Gbagbo supporters, declared the results of seven northern departments unlawful and that Gbagbo had won the elections with 51 percent of the vote (instead of Ouattara winning with 54 percent, as reported by the Electoral Commission).
Of course, we neither make excuses nor condone Gbagbo's handling of the whole situation, and in this regard, Ouattara, recognized as the winner by most countries and the United Nations, cannot be faulted for organising an alternative inauguration. So we call upon Gbagbo to heed the United Nations Security Council's common resolution recognising Ouattara as winner of the elections, based on the position of ECOWAS (Economic Community of West Africa States).
While ECOWAS might eventually actually intervene militarily, as it has threatened to do, it is clear that it is also applying a double standard, not least because it did not intervene when the rebels invaded Cote d'Ivoire in 2003, which led to the civil war that killed thousands of innocent people.
Although Gambian President Yahya Jammeh is not exactly a widely respected character, his allusions to Ecowas being a stooge of Western powers such as the United States, France and the European Union – which have been vocal in their condemnation of Gbagbo's said refusal to accept the will of the Ivorian people – will have some takers because of the longstanding history of western powers when it comes to elections in Africa.
Jammeh said: 'In all Francophone Africa, the constitutional courts have the final decision in the event of elections disputes. In Cote d'Ivoire's case, the court ruled and Ecowas is not accepting that ruling only because of pressure from some western powers whose vested interests in the natural resources of Cote d'Ivoire is an open secret.'
He has also highlighted the double standards implicit in the fact that Ecowas was now looking at intervening in Ivory Coast when it failed to act in Guinea Bissau, Guinea and Sierra Leone, among other situations, where he said many had died before the sub-regional bloc considered intervening.
'… Why didn't Ecowas intervene in Guinea Conakry to put an end to the former criminal government of Captain Musa Dadis Camara that ended up slaughtering many people including innocent women and children? Even after this horrible crime, Ecowas never intervened militarily to topple that criminal regime…'
While we cannot wholly agree with Jammeh, who called foreign powers pushing for the installation of the 'legitimate' government of Ouattara, as 'racist powers' bent on deciding for Africans who should lead their countries, the West is not helping its cause in Africa by always meddling in the continent's affairs.
Over the years, particularly since 2000, this tendency has played itself out in dramatic fashion in the case of Zimbabwe, where western countries have not only now been proven to have been behind the economic and political mayhem in that country, but also the architects of tensions between Zanu-PF and the MDC under the 'regime change' agenda.
ECOWAS, established to bring economic prosperity to the West African people, should not be turned into a war machine to embark on military adventures in the pursuit of foreign interests detrimental to Africa in general and West Africa in particular. African countries should be aware of those neocolonialist powers who are only interested in setting up puppet regimes in natural resource-endowed countries in order to continue pillaging resources.
Without equivocation, it is high time foreign powers are forced to respect the independence and sovereignty of African countries; as well as stopped from interfering in Africa's internal electoral processes. Africans should put an end to this dictatorship of the neocolonialist and racist powers deciding who should lead African countries
We are really disappointed – but not surprised – that the latest effort to salvage what is becoming an embarrassing situation – by AU mediator Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga, failed spectacularly this week.
We still believe the only people who can solve this impasse are the Ivorians themselves.
Southerntimesafrica.com
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Comments
What is quiet clear is : Gbagbo should go!
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