AU guarantees amnesty for Gbagbo if he cedes power

Côte d’Ivoire’s Laurent Gbagbo will escape charges of any nature if he voluntarily hands over power to his rival Alassane Outtara, the joint mediation team from African Union and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have guaranteed.

However, the delegation that is mediating a peaceful end to the crisis has not ruled out the use of force in case Mr Gbagbo declines to hand over power voluntarily, AU special envoy and Kenya’s Prime Minister Raila Odinga told the media in Nairobi on Wednesday.

He was speaking when he arrived home after three days in West Africa where he went to seek a peaceful end to the post-election crisis in Côte d’Ivoire.

Mr Odinga said the joint AU-Ecowas mission have called on Mr Gbagbo to step down and hand over power to Mr Outtara. In exchange, Mr Gbagbo has been promised amnesty.

“He will be free to operate as a politician if he remains in Côte d’Ivoire but if he decides to go on exile, he will be free to go about his business and not be dragged into the International Criminal Court,” said Mr Odinga.

Both AU and Ecowas are giving peace a chance before taking any drastic action that may include forcible removal of Mr Gbagbo.

AU reiterates that Mr Outtara is the legitimate and internationally recognised president of Côte d’Ivoire following the November 28 run-off elections in which the country’s electoral commission declared him the winner.

However, the country’s constitutional Council which is headed by a Gbagbo ally overturned the results in favour of the incumbent citing election irregularities in the North where Mr Outtara draws the biggest following.

“Gbagbo was defeated in the run-off election but maintains that the electoral commission was compromised by his rival,” Mr Odinga said on Wednesday. “He also maintains that the results announced by the electoral commission were only provisional which had to be confirmed by the Constitutional Council. Therefore, there is a crisis that needs to be resolved.”