Raila steps up bid to solve crisis in Ivory Coast

 

By BERNARD NAMUNANE AND AGENCIESPosted Thursday, January 20 2011 at 22:32

Prime Minister Raila Odinga on Thursday stepped up his shuttle diplomacy to resolve the Cote d’Ivoire crisis even after he was rejected as a mediator by embattled President Laurent Gbagbo’s camp.

Before Mr Odinga left Cote d’Ivoire on Wednesday he warned that time was running out for Mr Gbagbo to hold peaceful negotiations to end the crisis that followed last November’s elections.

The AU and member states of the Economic Community of West Africa (Ecowas), he hinted, were likely to resort to military intervention.

In the elections, Mr Alassane Ouattara was announced the winner but Mr Gbagbo refused to hand over power.

The United Nations, the European Union, the AU, the United States and other foreign countries recognise Mr Ouattara as the legitimate president.

Mr Odinga on Wednesday convinced Ghana President John Atta Mills to support the Ecowas and AU position on the crisis.

President Mills however said Ghana will not contribute troops for the Ecowas Cote d’Ivoire mission should need arise to use force.

Ghana already has troops in Liberia, Cote d’Ivoire, Sudan, DR Congo and Lebanon serving as UN peace keepers and feels overstretched, he said.

Mr Odinga left Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso on Thursday morning after talks with President Blaise Compaoré. He had flown to Burkina Faso on Wednesday evening from Mali where he met President Amadou Toumani Touré.

On Thursday evening, the PM was scheduled to be in Pretoria, South Africa for discussions with President Jacob Zuma.

Mr Odinga said his aim is to brief the heads of state on the situation in Cote d’Ivoire and why they need to support the position taken by Ecowas and the AU.

He described his meetings with the West African regional leaders as ‘‘very productive’’.

The presidents of Burkina Faso and Mali endorsed the position taken by AU and Ecowas on Cote d’Ivoire. They also endorsed the conditions spelt out for Mr Gbagbo by Mr Odinga.

The Kenyan PM also visited Luanda, Angola to rally President José Eduardo dos Santos behind the African Union’s push to resolve the stalemate.

Angola is one of the few African countries that supports Mr Gbagbo. There have been reports that it has sent mercenaries to Abidjan to support the Ivorian army.

Mr Odinga said the West African states that operate under the “Financial Community of Africa, will be meeting on Saturday to discuss removing Mr Gbagbo as a signatory to the Central Bank of the member states.

The countries operating within the West African Economic and Monetary Union and the CFA currency do not run individual central banks. Instead, they rely on the Central Bank of the West African States), located in Dakar, Senegal.

Mr Gbagbo’s removal as a signatory with the bank may cripple his regime as it will not have money to pay civil servants and the army protecting him.

In Abidjan, Mr Gbagbo’s Foreign Affairs minister Alcide Djedje announced that Mr Odinga was no longer wanted in the West African country after his second attempt at resolving the political stalemate failed.

“Mr Odinga failed in his mission and we are no longer prepared to receive him here in Cote d’Ivoire. We reject Mr Odinga”, he said.

The Gbagbo camp accused Mr Odinga of siding with their opponent, Mr Ouattara and declared their side will not accept the Kenya PM to mediate in the crisis.

“He (Mr Odinga) sides with Mr Ouattara. We think he has become an actor in the Ivorian crisis and can no longer be an African Union special envoy,” he added. The PM, who is scheduled to return to Nairobi on Friday.