Cote d’Ivoire crisis: Gbagbo gets one-month reprieve

Posted by admin Africa & World Politics Sunday, January 30th, 2011

Sit-tight Ivorian leader, Laurent Gbagbo, got what appears like reprieve as the Peace and Security Council of the African Union has resolved to set up a high-level panel that will, within one-month, negotiate a peaceful resolution of the crisis in the country.

The yet-to-be constituted panel will be drawn from presidents and heads of government of the AU. The PSC has heads of state and government as members.

There were also indications that the AU is considering the implementation of a power-sharing option in the West African country.

An agreement will see Gbagbo and the acclaimed winner of the disputed presidential election, Allasane Ouattara, forming a unity government.

In a communiqué released after the meeting of the PSC in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on Friday night, the AU said “conclusions” reached by the panel would be binding on both Gbagbo and Ouattara.

Constitution of membership of the panel was not concluded on Friday even when the AU meeting which was to last for only three hours eventually took eight hours.

Members of the panel would now be selected at the 16th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the AU, which is scheduled to take place on January 30 and 31, 2011.

The communiqué also noted that “dialogue” was the only option in the quest for a resolution to the Ivorian crisis.

No mention was made of the military option canvassed by an extra-ordinary summit of the heads of states and governments of ECOWAS in Abuja, Nigeria, on December 24, 2010, where Gbagbo was given an ultimatum to relinquish power peacefully or be forced out.

Part of the Friday communique reads, “The Peace and Security Council of the AU expresses its deep concern with the serious political crisis prevailing in Côte d’Ivoire since the announcement of the results of the second round of the presidential election of November 28, 2010.

“Council strongly condemns the abuses and other violations of human rights, threats and acts of intimidation, as well as acts of obstruction against the activities of the United Nations Operations in Côte d’Ivoire, and regrets the loss of life and acts of destruction of property which took place in some parts of Côte d’Ivoire.”

President Goodluck Jonathan made submissions at the PSC meeting in his capacity as the ECOWAS chairman.

The PSC also took reports from President Blaise Compaore of Burkina Faso, in his capacity as the facilitator of the Direct Inter-Ivorian Dialogue, as well as the President of ECOWAS Commission, Victor Gbeho.

The PSC reaffirmed earlier positions taken by ECOWAS, the AU, the UN and other stakeholders on the Ivorian crisis, to the effect that Ouattara was the winner of the disputed presidential election.

However, fielding questions from journalists after the meeting, AU Commission President, Mr. Jean Ping, hinted that the commission might pursue a power-sharing option as a means of resolving the crisis.

Asked if the AU high-level panel would advance a power-sharing option in the impending negotiations with Gbagbo and Ouattara, Ping said, “We are talking about peaceful solution, a negotiated solution, why are you talking about a power sharing solution?

“Imagine if it was a power-sharing solution, imagine you preferred to have killings like in The Democratic Republic of Congo, five million people passed away because you think to wait two years of sharing power to avert violence is a bad solution, it is not the best.”

Besides Jonathan and Compaore, other African leaders at the meeting of the PSC were Jacob Zuma of South Africa, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, and Raila Odinga of Kenya, who is also the AU mediator on the Ivorian crisis.wp_posts