Thursday, January 27, 2011

Gbagbo on Africa charm offensive


Laurent Gbagbo smiles after being formally sworn-in as Ivorian president during a ceremony on December 4, 2010 in Abidjan. Photo/AFP
Laurent Gbagbo smiles after being formally sworn-in as Ivorian president during a ceremony on December 4, 2010 in Abidjan. Photo/AFP 
By LUCAS BARASA lbarassa@ke.nationmedia.comPosted Thursday, January 27 2011 at 00:00

Cote d’Ivoire strongman Laurent Gbagbo has dispatched emissaries to various countries in Africa to seek support and shed light on alleged irregularities during the disputed presidential elections.
Mr Gbagbo’s special advisor, Williams Atteby, who is expected to meet President Kibaki on Thursday, said his colleagues have already been to Togo, Mozambique and Zimbabwe and that he would be heading to Ethiopia after the Kenyan visit.
“We are not coming to undermine the mission of the African Union. We want to get African countries informed about the situation on Cote d’Ivoire,” Mr Atteby said during an interview at a Nairobi hotel.
The official further said that Prime Minister Raila Odinga, who is the AU-appointed mediator and who had been rejected by Mr Gbagbo’s camp, is still welcome in Abidjan “but his term of reference should be clear and not that Gbagbo should step down for Allassane Ouattara.”
“Mr Odinga is welcome as he is coming to work for peace. What we need is clear objective of his mission statement. We have no problem with him,” Mr Atteby said.
He insisted that Mr Gbagbo won the country’s election and that there was massive rigging in favour of Mr Ouattara in his northern stronghold. (Read: UN envoy says Ouattara won)
Mr Atteby said the country’s constitutional court has the sole mandate of declaring the poll winner, adding that the Independent Electoral Commission only gives provisional results.
While the electoral body declared Mr Ouattara the winner, the court nullified the results and declared Mr Gbagbo the winner, leading to the current stalemate.
Mr Atteby accused France and the US of having allegedly arm-twisted the electoral commission to unlawfully declare Mr Ouattara the winner.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has also called on the international community to investigate allegations of malpractices in Cote d’Ivoire’s polls.
However, Mr Atteby said his team has been unable to meet acting Foreign Affairs minister George Saitoti and Thursday's meeting with the President was also uncertain.
On Tuesday, ODM MPs accused PNU of inviting Mr Atteby’s team to discredit Mr Odinga’s efforts in the West African country.

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