Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Africa Union sends Raila to Ivory Coast

By Beauttah Omanga

Prime Minister Raila Odinga is in the list of African Union-appointed mediators tasked with resolving the post-election standoff in Ivory Coast where two ‘Presidents’ have already been sworn-in. The mediation effort includes three African Heads of States.
The relevant AU communiquÈ makes it clear the union’s mission is to protect the popular will of the Ivorian people who it says cast their votes in favour of "the President-elect Mr Alassane Ouattara’.
‘In this respect the Chairperson of the Commission has requested H.E. Mr Raila Odinga, Prime Minister of the Republic of Kenya to follow through the situation in Cote D’Ivoire and to strengthen the chances of success of the current efforts," read the AU communiquÈ issued at the head office in Ethiopia.
At a press conference at his Bondo home, Raila accepted the AU assignment, promising he would be "neutral in order to bring sanity to Ivory Coast". "Gbagbo should be given assurance that nothing bad will happen to him because he has also been fighting for democracy in Cote D’Ivoire," said the PM.
He added: "The two are personal friends. We must convince Gbagbo that he will be protected after he relinquishes power."
Raila saw the appointment as recognition for his fight for the rights of the common wananchi of Africa and his efforts to help end violence in the continent.
The situation in Ivory Coast, which prefers to be referred to by the French version of its name, Cote D’Ivoire, reflects the Kenyan post-election situation in many ways and that could be why African Union Commission Chairman Mr Jean Ping picked on Raila to join the mediation effort even as West African states threatened forceful removal of the incumbent Mr Laurent Gbagbo.
First, there are two claimants of presidential vote victory. Secondly, internal tensions are rising and 173 people have already been killed in post-election strife, and thirdly, the election was hotly contested between Gbagbo and Ouattara who is a former Prime Minister.
Fourth, like in the Kenyan post-election showdown, the International Criminal Court has already spoken out against violence and warned it is watching keenly and may later move in and try those suspected to have perpetrated it.
Fifth, like in the Kenya case where AU led international mediation efforts, initially led by former Ghanaian President John Kuffuor and later Dr Kofi Annan, the answer to the Ivorian crisis could be a power-sharing deal between the two claimants to electoral victory.
The difference with Kenya, however, could lie in the fact that in Ivory Coast, the electoral commission declared the incumbent had lost only for him to cling to power after a higher electoral appellate body stuffed with his hand-picked supporters revised the results and announced he had ‘won’ by a three per cent margin.
Kenya dealBy picking Raila the AU could be banking on the fact that he could use experience on how the Kenya power-sharing deal has worked for him and how it saved the country from sliding into civil war. In the Kenyan case, the mediators reportedly got President Kibaki to agree to the power-sharing deal by sending Tanzania’s President Jakaya Kikwete, who persuaded him through his country’s separation of powers between the presidency and the premiership, with assurances that his own powers remain largely intact.
Separately, the PM’s office issued a media advisory announcing the AU had asked Raila to team up with other leaders in the continent to help find a solution for the standoff in the West African nation. The standoff follows the refusal of President Gbagbo to leave office after he was defeated in an election by Ouattara, in a similar fashion as in Zimbabwe where the incumbent Mr Robert Mugabe clung on after defeat in the first round by Mr Morgan Tsvangirai.
The electoral commission of Ivory Coast had declared Ouattara the winner but Gbagbo rejected his defeat and proceeded to swear himself in as President. Ouattara was also sworn in himself as president.
The PM’s spokesman Mr Dennis Onyango said the PM who is at his Bondo home for the December holidays was supposed to have joined three West African Heads of States who are headed to the Ivory Coast as reports showed the crisis was building up in the cocoa-producing nation.
The three leaders who were sent by West African economic bloc, Ecowas, are presidents of Benin, Sierra Leone and Cape Verde. Their mandate is believed to be to ask Gbagbo to peacefully leave office or they remove him by force.
The incumbent has, however, laughed off the demand claiming it undermined the sovereignty of his nation.
Slide into chaosMr Onyango explained the PM had been approached but was unable to make the trip as urgently as requested. "The PM was not able to join the delegation but he has promised that if the delegation does not succeed, he will lead another to Ivory Coast and try to stop the country’s slide into chaos," revealed Onyango.
Onyango said in the meantime the PM agreed to use his diplomatic connections to focus more attention on Ivory Coast and push for a peaceful end to the conflict in a way that ensures democracy is served. "The PM will be seeking to mobilise reform-minded African Heads of States and Governments, opinion leaders including local former Presidents, the European Union as a bloc, individual member states and the US to push for a rapid end to instability in that country," said Onyango.
Unlike the peace deal between Kibaki and Raila, chances of encouraging a coalition government in Ivory Coast might not be the first option on the cards, because AU and the international community are clear that Ivorians voted in Ouattara.
Already some countries and leaders including Raila have warned that sharing of power may not be the best solution to addressing issues related to leaders declining to hand over power once defeated.
Raila’s position on Ivory Coast is similar to that of Ecowas in the sense that he has recommended military action against Gbagbo. He has also petitioned the UN and AU to act decisively in forcing the incumbent to concede defeat and relinquish power to Ouattara who won the recent polls.
"The United Nations, African Union and other international bodies and leaders have recognised Mr Ouattara as the winner. The next step must be to ensure that recognition translates into transfer of power," said the PM last week.

No comments:

Post a Comment