PM seeks to end Ivorian crisis after poll dispute

An Ivorian soldier stands guard during a rally held by Charles Ble Goude, leader of Young Patriots party, in Abidjan on December 29, last year. Kenya’s Prime Minister Raila Odinga is leading a team seeking to end a crisis sparked by a disputed presidential election held on November 28. PHOTO | AFP

Kenya's Prime Minister Raila Odinga arrived in Cote d’Ivoire on Monday to continue talks with the two claimants to the country’s presidency.

The PM is part of a joint mission of the African Union and the West African bloc, Ecowas, which has been seeking to end the political crisis sparked by the November 28 presidential election in that country.

According to a member of the delegation, the aim of the mission is to exert pressure on president Laurent Gbagbo to cede power to his rival, Mr Alassane Ouattara, who is regionally and internationally recognised as winner of the disputed election.

The heads of State who travelled to Cote d’Ivoire are Benin’s Boni Yayi, Sierra Leone’s Ernest Bai Koroma and Cape Verde’s Pedro Pires — who represent the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas).

The only issue on the discussion table are the conditions of President Gbagbo’s departure including exile and amnesty for him and his key supporters.

Mr Odinga, who heads the AU team, arrived in Abidjan at about 9am local time, followed by the Cape Verde president at noon and the heads of state of Benin and Sierra Leone at 1pm.

The PM met UN mission representatives who explained the certification process of the election run-off.

Mr Odinga and the three West African presidents were expected to spend a night in Abidjan and were determined to leave the Ivorian capital only with “concrete results”, diplomatic source said.

After talks with Mr Gbagbo and Mr Ouattara, the joint mission would report to the Ecowas chairman Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan.  The talks are still under the control of Ecowas and Mr Odinga is there to give the support of the African Union.

The mission was expected to make a security and amnesty offer to Mr Gbagbo if he quits.

West African States have said they will remove Mr Gbagbo by force if he fails to relinquish power.

The UN, the African Union, Ecowas and major western governments recognise Mr Ouattara as the rightful winner of the election.

“He (Mr Odinga) will seek a peaceful settlement to the election crisis... and seek an assurance of safety and security for Mr Laurent Gbagbo and his supporters, if he agrees to cede power,” the PM’s office said.

He was one of the first African leaders to call for military intervention to oust Mr Gbagbo.

Sierra Leone’s Information minister, Ibrahim Ben-Kargbo said the leaders would tell Mr Gbagbo to step down and did not intend to negotiate with him.

A source in the African delegation said that the incumbent would be offered a legal amnesty, as well as a guarantee that his financial assets would be secure if he left office.

But a spokesman for Mr Gbagbo, Mr Ohoupa Sessegnong, told the BBC that the offer would be rejected.

“It’s not about Laurent Gbagbo seeking some sort of offer. It’s about Laurent Gbagbo having won the elections in the Cote D’Ivoire,” Mr Sessegnong said. “Now it appears that the opposition supported by the French and their allies do not want to accept that.”

The UN says 200 people have been killed or have disappeared in the past month — mostly supporters of Mr Ouattara. UN peacekeepers in the country said security forces had twice blocked them from visiting the site of one of two alleged mass graves.

The UN has also expressed concern that some of the homes of opponents to Mr Gbagbo had been marked to identify the ethnicity of their occupants. The Gbagbo camp has denied sanctioning abuses.

UN peacekeepers are protecting Mr Ouattara, who is holed up at a hotel in Abidjan. Mr Gbagbo has called on the 10,000-strong UN force to leave the country. The poll was intended to reunify the world’s leading cocoa producer which has been divided since a 2002 conflict.

Mr Ouattara was initially proclaimed the winner by the election commission, a verdict backed by the UN, which helped organise the poll.

But the Constitutional Council, headed by an ally of Mr Gbagbo, said he had won, citing irregularities in the north which is controlled by former rebels supporting Mr Ouattara.

Both men have been sworn in as president.