Raila urges Ouattara to unite Cote d'Ivoire

Prime Minister Raila Odinga has called on Cote d'Ivoire President Alassane Ouattara to embark immediately on reconciling and uniting his country following the capture of former leader Laurent Gbagbo April 12, 2011. FILE

By PMPS
Posted  Tuesday, April 12 2011 at 14:34

Prime Minister Raila Odinga has called on Cote d'Ivoire President Alassane Ouattara to embark immediately on reconciling and uniting his country following the capture of former leader Laurent Gbagbo.

He also called on the people of Cote d'Ivoire to denounce any further acts of war and destruction and instead focus on reconstructing the country, saying Mr Gbagbos' reign “came to an expected end".

Mr Odinga asked the President to bring supporters of Mr Gbagbo into the government for the sake of unity.

During an interview with The New York Times in the US, Mr Odinga, who served as the AU-mediator in the crisis, said he has full confidence that Mr Ouattara has the capacity and will to unite the West African country.

Mr Odinga said he was not surprised that Gbagbo’s hold on power ended as it did, with a violent overthrow and loss of lives.

“I saw it coming. Gbagbo was digging for a war I knew he could not win and I told him as much. His troops had been very demoralised.

"When his representative was removed from the regional bank, I knew Gbagbo was not going to pay the soldiers even the little salaries he had been paying them. Things got worse for him when Cocoa importers cut their business with the country by up to 40 per cent,” Mr Odinga said.

The PM fell short of declaring that African presidents misled Mr Gbagbo into a false sense of security, but said he had a feeling a number of African leaders did not tell the deposed former president the truth.

Saying there is “a big difference” between Mr Gbagbo and Mr Ouattara, Odinga said he is confident that the President-elect has “what it takes to unite and rebuild Ivory Coast".

Recalling his discussions with Mr Gbagbo and Mr Ouattara, the Kenyan PM said the President-elect was always willing to accommodate Mr Gbagbo’s people in government for the sake of unity.

Mr Odinga recalled that during the negotiations, Mr Gbagbo appeared to indicate that he would surrender power if Mr Ouattara agreed to include 25 per cent of his people into the new government.

“When I floated this to Ouattara, he told me he was ready to take up to 30 per cent of Gbagbo’s people. But Gbagbo was not keen on keeping his word.

Mr Odinga regretted that Gbagbo rejected “so many lucrative offers” only to end up under arrest.

“I gave Gbagbo a number of offers that I had negotiated with the international community, including the US and EU on his behalf. I told him he could surrender and remain in the country where he would remain active politically if he chose to, without being taken to court.

“I also offered him to go into exile and be a lecturer in Boston University. America had given me that offer. All that is lost now,” the PM said.

On Monday, Mr Ouattara’s forces, backed by French and UN troops, captured his besieged rival Gbagbo in Abidjan at the climax of a deadly months-long crisis.

Gbagbo, who has held power since 2000 and stubbornly refused to admit defeat in November’s presidential election, was detained and taken to his rival’s temporary headquarters, with his wife Simone and son Michel.

“The nightmare is over,” Ouattara’s prime minister, former rebel leader Guillaume Soro, said on the Ouattara camp’s television channel.