Posts Tagged ‘Laurent Gbagbo’

Ivory Coast’s embattled Gbagbo under seige in own residence

Ivory Coast

Newscast Media — French foreign minister Alain Juppe has said negotiations led by France to secure the departure of Ivory Coast’s embattled leader have hit a snag.

“The negotiations which were carried out for hours yesterday between the entourage of Laurent Gbagbo and Ivorian authorities have failed because of Gbagbo’s intransigence,” Juppe told parliament on Wednesday.

President-elect Alassane Ouattara’s supporters descended upon Gbagabo’s residence earlier on Wednesday looking for him, however a spokesperson from the Ouattara camp said troops had been ordered not to kill Ggagbo.

“Alassane Ouattara has given formal instructions that Gbagbo is to be kept alive because we want to bring him to justice,” a spokesperson said.

The news came hours after Edouard Guillaud, the French armed forces chief, said on Wednesday Gbagbo’s departure would come in “a matter of hours”. South Africa, Togo and Angola are possible safe havens for Gbagbo should he negotiate an exit from his West African country, African Union (AU) sources said on Wednesday. Gbagbo, meanwhile, said it was not his “aim to die” fighting Ouattara forces and called for direct talks with his rival.

“I’m not a kamikaze. I love life. My voice is not the voice of a martyr, no, no, no, I’m not looking for death. It’s not my aim to die,” Gbagbo, speaking from his residence on Tuesday, told the French TV channel LCI.

“For peace to return to Ivory Coast, I and Ouattara, the two of us, have to talk,” he added.

Despite all his talk about his desire to resolve the conflict Gbagbo refused to “sign a document” in which he had to say he was ready to step down. This refusal infuriated his opponents who are now determined to capture him.

http://www.newscastmedia.com/underseige.html

Women in Ivory Coast lead the revolution against Gbagbo

Women protest against Gbagbo

Newscast Media ABIDJAN, Cote d’Ivoire — As Libyans in North march in protest of strongman Gadhafi, in the West, women are leading the way as they stand up to Gbagbo’s dictatorial regime. The uprising was sparked from an incident last week when soldiers opened fire on a crowd of female demonstrators who were unarmed, and waving tree branches symbolizing peace.

This unprovoked attack that killed seven women, galvanized the local and international community against Gbagbo who has still refused to yield power since losing the country’s election three months ago. Most media reports are focusing on the Libyan revolt and have primarily ignored the revolt happening amongst black Africans.

The thousands of women demonstrating on Tuesday near the site of last week’s killings in the Abobo district were protected by men who had formed a wall across the mouth of a freeway by lining cars end-to-end.

Mr. Gbagbo has maintained power by continuing to pay the salaries of soldiers and key civil servants. Gbagbo who has been in power for more than a decade, has refused to step down in the West African country which is the world’s leading cocoa producer, triggering violence that has killed nearly 400 people as his troops clash with pro-Quattara rebels. African leaders have been exceptionally vocal and united in telling him to go, but he refuses to allow a peaceful transition to Alassane Ouattara, the internationally recognized winner of the election.

This tendency for African leaders to cling to power is what has kept a large part of the continent as third world region. Such leaders ascend not to improve lives of their citizens, but do it for the love of power, to enrich themselves and to have control over their people. Developed countries on the continent like South Africa, are fortunate to have leaders who know when it is time for them to bow out gracefully, and allow young talent to rise up, something that oppressed third world African countries can only dream about.

So far nine newspapers opposed to Mr. Gbagbo have closed, saying they could no longer withstand police harassment and constant threats of violence against their journalists.

Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, issued a stinging rebuke saying that “Gbagbo and his forces have shown a callous disregard for human life”.

The UN is now sending 2,000 more troops to Cote d’Ivoire to reinforce the existing peacekeeping force of 8,000 already in Cote d’Ivore, a UN official said.

“We are waiting on reinforcements of 2,000 blue helmets, and two of the three armed helicopters that we ordered have arrived. We need to do everything we can to stop someone who wants to massacre civilians from making it happen,” he said.

At this point it seems the UN has been given the nod by the US to ensure Gbagbo’s removal from power.

http://www.newscastmedia.com/gbagborevolts.html

United Nations beefs up military presence in Cote d’Ivoire

Newscast Media COTE D’IVOIRE — Due to the political impasse between Laurent GbaGbo and Alassane Ouattara the United Nations Security Council has agreed to deploy additional 2,000 peacekeepers to Cote d’Ivoire, where GbaGbo has refused to relinquish power in the face of mounting international pressure. Ivory Coast has seen violence and increased tension since the disputed presidential election in November, where Alassane Ouattara, widely seen as the legitimate winner, should have replaced Laurent Gbagbo as head of the nation.

Wednesday’s vote, by the 15-member Security Council, will bolster the UN’s peacekeeping force to nearly 12,000 in the West African country; peacekeepers are to be deployed through June.

Swiss authorities on Wednesday were also moving to immediately freeze any assets belonging to Gbagbo, Swiss President and Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey said. Gbagbo refuses to step down, retaining control of government buildings, state television and the security forces. He also holds a blockade around the Abidjan hotel where Ouattara is confined. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the peacekeepers on the ground face an “openly hostile security environment” with threats from forces loyal to Gbagbo. The world body has reported more than 200 deaths in post-election violence in the African state.

GbaGbo has also rejected Kenya’s Raila Odinga’s effort to act as a mediator in order to resolve the current political crisis in Ivory Coast.

“Mr Odinga has failed in his mission and we are no longer prepared to receive him,” Gbagbo’s foreign minister Alcide Djedje told a news conference. “He was not willing to seek a durable solution…. He took the side of Mr. Ouattara.”

Military chiefs of West African regional bloc ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) met in Mali on Tuesday to discuss the planning of a possible military intervention to oust Gbagbo. ECOWAS hopes to consider all possible methods of engagement before resorting to the use of force.

http://www.newscastmedia.com/gbagbo.html

Ivory Coast election results reversed loser now wins – AU Suspends Ivory Coast

Ivory Coast

Newscast Media IVORY COAST, Africa –Election results that had earlier shown Ivory Coast’s opposition leader Alassane Ouattara winning by 54 percent against current leader President Laurent GbaGbo’s 45 percent, have now been reversed by Ivory Coast’s Constitutional Council who have declared President Laurent Gbagbo the winner of Sunday’s run-off.

However, the UN mission in Ivory Coast has said even if complaints of fraud are upheld, Mr Ouattara should still win. The presidential poll was intended to reunify the world’s largest cocoa producer after a civil war in 2002. The two candidates represent the two sides of the north-south divide that exists
religiously, culturally and administratively, with the northern half still controlled in part by the former rebels.

Paul Yao N’Dre, chairman of the Constitutional Council, which validates election results, said Mr Gbagbo had won a little more than 51% of the vote. He said results in seven regions in the north, where
Mr Ouattara draws most of his support, had been annulled.

“The irregularities are of such a nature that they invalidate the vote,” Mr N’Dre, an ally of President Gbagbo, is quoted having said on national television.

On Thursday evening, the military closed the country’s borders and international news sources were suspended. Mr N’Dre said that, as the announcement of the winner had come after Wednesday’s legal deadline, those results were “null and void”.

UPDATE: December 9, 2010
The African Union has suspended Ivory Coast after Laurent Gbagbo, the incumbent president, failed to heed internationals calls to respect election results that handed victory to his rival.

“The decision which was taken was to suspend Cote d’Ivoire from participating in the activities of the African Union until the democratically elected president Alassane Ouattara takes power,” Ramtane Lamamara, the AU Peace and Security Commissioner told reporters.

The 53-nation bloc’s decision came after a meeting at its Addis Ababa headquarters over the Ivory Coast crisis and the situation in Guinea, which also held elections last month.

http://newscastmedia.com/ivory-coast.htm