Cote d’Ivoire crisis tests Africa’s will to act in a year with big elections

Photo taken on January 1, 2011 shows a general view of Golf Hotel, the headquarters of Alassane Ouattara in Abidjan. Ivory Coast strongman Laurent Gbagbo's troops kept up their blockade of his presidential rival's headquarters on Janaury 5, 2011, despite a vow to lift the siege as a prelude to talks to resolve the stand-off. AFP| ISSOUF SANOGO

ABIDJAN, Wednesday

Cote d’Ivoire’s political standoff has united its neighbours as never before in a crucial test of their crisis-solving abilities ahead of several more elections in Africa this year, experts say.

With African states eyeing a bigger international role as emerging economies shift the balance of world governance, the African Union and West African bloc ECOWAS have taken the lead in bids to settle the Ivorian presidential struggle.

“Ivory Coast could be a turning point in how Africa manages conflicts. There has never been such clear unity,” said Pascal Boniface, director of the IRIS international studies institute in Paris.

When a dispute erupted between Laurent Gbagbo, in power for 10 years, and his presidential opponent Alassane Ouattara, the African Union (AU) promptly sent mediators to Ivory Coast.

The AU, ECOWAS and much of the international community recognised Ouattara as the winner of November’s election and urged Gbagbo to step down.

The United Nations, United States, former colonial power France and others have raised pressure on Gbagbo to cede power to Ouattara and the European Union has applied travel restrictions.

But the main legwork has been done in recent weeks by ECOWAS, with a series of missions to meet the two rivals in the hope of negotiating Gbagbo’s departure, and not ruling out military intervention to oust him if he refuses.

“African leaders have decided to hit hard, looking ahead to the next elections,” with polls due this year in countries including Chad, the Central African Republic, Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of Congo, he said.

The first potentially volatile polls in Africa take place on Sunday, when voters in southern Sudan vote on whether to break away from the north of the divided country.

Throughout the year, 12 other African countries will then hold presidential polls and some legislative polls, including DRCongo, a huge war-torn country at risk of electoral disputes, and western powerhouse Nigeria.

The AU intervened in major post-election crises in Kenya and Zimbabwe in 2008. Each ended in a power-sharing deal between the rivals to prevent further bloodshed, but the AU and ECOWAS have rejected that option for Ivory Coast.

ECOWAS has also warned of the possibility of an armed intervention to oust Gbagbo. In recent years it has sent troops into Burundi, Darfur, the Comoros and Somalia to intervene in crises.

Meanwhile, at least one person died when Ivorian forces loyal to Gbagbo raided yesterday the headquarters of a party backing his bitter rival, an interior ministry spokesman said.

Defence and Security Forces carried out a pre-dawn raid at the headquarters of the Ivory Coast Democratic Party (PDCI), saying arms were hidden inside, retired general and PDCI member Gaston Ouassenan Kone told AFP.

The party is part of the RHDP coalition supporting Mr Ouattara.

An interior ministry spokesman said late Tuesday on state television that that one person who attacked police during the raid had died of his wounds.

“An activist died from his injuries,” the spokesman said, accusing the dead man of having tried to attack police with a knife.

Meanwhile, Mr Gbagbo’s troops kept up their blockade of his presidential rival’s headquarters today, despite a vow to lift the siege as a prelude to talks to resolve the stand-off.

The hotel that has become home to Alassane Ouattara, the man the world says won a November election.

In another development Mr Gbagbo said he will lift a three-week siege on his presidential rival if former rebels protecting him at his Abidjan hotel headquarters leave, his foreign minister said today. (AFP)