Who would’ve thought? It appears Ivory Coast’s Laurent Gbabgo was taking copious notes only a few years ago when Kenya’s Kibaki did the unthinkable by swearing himself as president despite losing nationwide elections.
La Cote d’Ivoire is now in its own lame duck session with two different presidents from opposing parties. Even for Africa this is unprecedented. The current impasse in Ivory Coast is a stark reminder that the continent’s leadership crisis is far from over.
For many Africans, today was once again a day of political perfidy as we were forced to watch another ignominy unfold before our very eyes. Needless to say this has caused undue tension all over the country. Already Prime Minister Soro, the man who led rebel forces during Ivory Coast’s first ever bloody civil war has resigned. No one knows what will happen next but if history is a harbinger, then Soro’s return to the bush is no good news.
The AU has deployed Thabo Mbeki to help defuse the situation while foreign leaders such as President Obama and international organizations such as the United Nations have all recognized Ouattara as the legitimate winner.Yet why did everyone look on helplessly as Gbabgo shamelessly stole the people’s mandate? All this is especially painful considering the amount of effort, time and resource that has been spent in the aftermath of the 2002 armed rebellion which they're barely recovering from.
Where’s the kind of people power that we've seen in other parts of the world such as Philippine's yellow revolution which drove President Marcos from power or the orange revolution in Ukraine’s 2004 run-off that brought Viktor Yushchenko to power. Actually Ivory Coast doesn't have to look that far. It was in this same country that ordinary citizens protested, marched and literally drove Guei from power back in 2000 after he tried to rig elections.
Where is that raw anger? This is the kind of situation where violence-–either from the military, international community or the peasantry--may very well be the only language Mr Gbabgo understands.
Excellent input, DK. I'm going to have to agree with you here though i know different viewpoints have been expressed in the past. Gbagbo must go.
ReplyDeleteThanks Etse. Gbagbo must go. He is the problem.
ReplyDeleteIt's obvious Gbagbo lost the elections, and he must do the right thing. Nice piece!
ReplyDeleteO thanks Dr Agboka! Yeah Gbagbo is on the wrong side this time. No wonder he's in panic mode, cutting of foreign media, scrupulously controlling nation TV content and inciting the public with anti-western and anti-french rhetoric. A man of his caliber deserves what he gets should he fail to do the right thing.
ReplyDeleteWhy the double standards? The "international community" has done nothing over countless other similar political instances, eg. Zimbabwe, Kenya, yet now they salvitate for political and armed intervention in the Ivory Coast. Why? Why now? Just what justification can France and the UN claim when they attempt to overthrow this self-proclaimed leader? Don't say "morals" - I doubt that such an ideal carries any weight with the leaders of the ex-clonial power. The UN should get out and France should butt-out.
ReplyDeleteIt's not double standards, every situation calls for a particularistic solution. The premise of the whol thing is that Gbagbo's regime is illegal. Why do you ignore that fact? He like Mubarak must go.
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