Ex-Ivorian minister arrested in Cameroon
Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara. President Ouattara has told his country’s footballers he will double their World Cup win bonuses if they beat Greece, AFP PHOTO/ SIA KAMBOU
What you need to know:
- President Alassane Ouattara's government issued an international warrant for Ahoua Don Mello's arrest in 2011 on charges of “robbery, embezzlement, looting, extortion and harming the economy.”
YAOUNDÉ, Thursday
A former Ivorian minister and government spokesperson under Laurent Gbagbo has been arrested in Cameroon, two days after the West African nation’s Speaker of Parliament, Guillaume Soro, arrived in Yaoundé for a five-day working visit.
Mr Ahoua Don Mello was about to board a flight out of the country late on Wednesday when he was arrested at the Douala International Airport.
Mr Mello had gone into exile in Ghana after Gbagbo’s ouster in April 2011.
Abidjan, under new leader Alassane Ouattara, issued an international warrant for his arrest in 2011 on charges of “robbery, embezzlement, looting, extortion and harming the economy” alongside other Gbagbo loyalists, such as Charles Blé Goudé.
Mr Mello was about to leave Cameroon after meeting with the country’s main opposition party, the Social Democratic Fund (SDF), to seek support for the release of Mr Gbagbo who is currently facing trial for crimes against humanity at The Hague.
WALKOUT
SDF lawmakers walked out of Parliament and the Senate on Wednesday in protest against what they termed the government’s hero’s welcome for Ivorian “warlord” Soro.
The SDF and the former Ivorian ruling party, the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI), led by Laurent Gbagbo, are members of Socialists International and have maintained close links over the years.
The party accuses Soro of colluding with Ouattara to oust Ivory Coast’s “democratically elected leader,” Gbagbo, who it said should be set free.
He was the leader of the Patriotic Movement of Cote d’Ivoire (MPCI) in a September 2002 uprising against former leader Gbagbo.
Soro is the third Ivorian official to set foot on Cameroon soil in less than two months after the minister of communication, Mrs Affoussiata Bamba-Lamine, and her defence counterpart, Paul Koffi Koffi.
WARNING UP TO CAMEROON
In his address to Cameroonian lawmakers early Wednesday, Soro said Gbagbo's defeat was logical in the disputed 2010 polls because two of Ivory Coast’s three biggest parties formed an alliance to face him.
He would not be on trial at The Hague had he accepted the outcome of the polls like Abdoulaye Wade in Senegal and Joyce Banda in Malawi, he said.
Critics like the Mouvement Africain pour la Nouvelle Indépendance et la Démocratie (MANIDEM) Secretary-General Martin Richard Ntondo say President Ouattara’s regime has recently been warming up to Cameroon, which, he said, it wants to make its rear base.
It remains unclear yet whether the visits of the Ivorian officials were linked to Mello’s arrest or he would be extradited as authorities would not comment on the issue.
