Cote D’Ivoire and Laurent Gbagbo

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editorial: What to Do With African Dictators

The protracted dispute over who rules La Cote D’Ivoire, following the refusal of defeated Laurent Gbagbo to cede power, should inform the various African countries to reform their political systems. Africa is a nation where rulers never want to end their reign.

From Cairo to the Cape, African leaders have tended to behave as if the political entities entrusted in their care are their properties. They are either forced out or rule until their death.

The God Father of African nationalism, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah was overthrown after nine years as the leader of the newly-independent Ghana. By then, he had declared himself as a Life President. Houphouet-Boigny and Sekou Toure died as leaders of La Cote D' Ivoire and Guinea after independence

The Chronicle is disappointed to state that the second generation of African leaders, many of whom came to power by coup, wars and other agitations have found it convenient to continue with the feudal system of ruling till death do us part. Brother Muammar Gaddafi is still leading from the front in Libya, after taking power by force of arms in 1969. Hosni Mubarak, President of Egypt has been in power for well over a quarter of a century.

When Yoweri Museveni ended his bush war, by marching to Government House in 1985, Ugandans were made to believe that the new youthful leader would modernize the country and leave them alone to sort out their governance system. More than a quarter of a century later, Museveni is not only occupying State House, his wife is a Cabinet Minister in his administration.

At 86 years, Robert Mugabe is gunning for a shot at the Presidential elections after over 20 years in power. Africa appears to be a lost case. But it needs not be so. After over half a century of self-government in most African nations, The Chronicle would like to believe that robust institutions should be in place to discourage tyrants from perpetrating their misrule.

We are of the view that the African Union could make it unhealthy for African leaders to want to entrench their rule. We believe 10 years is the maximum any leader should be allowed to head his society in any African country.

If someone like Mugabe has been unable to achieve what he set out to do after nearly a quarter of a century of leadership in Zimbabwe, what at all has he got to offer his people again?

Africa is not a lost case altogether. We could still work to clean up our leadership contests. In the interim, we believe it is still possible to get Laurent Gbagbo to appreciate that it is in his own interest to abdicate. It would not be too pleasant for him to be forced out by the butt of the gun to leave State House in Yammoussoukro. He lost the election and as a democrat, he should respect the verdict of the people.

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Mr. Ebo Barton Odro, Deputy
Minister for Justice & Attorney
General

A legal practitioner, Mr. Noble Amoani-Koto, on Wednesday challenged
moves by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to
remove the Ivorian incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo by force, saying the
action would be illegal under international law.

He said such a step would also breach the principle of non-intervention.

Mr. Amoani-Koto’s submissions, which were contained in a statement to the
media, raised three major points to back his position.

He said there were generally three grounds which could trigger the use of force
under international law, and disputed election results was not one of such grounds.

The first ground, he said, was self-defence, which included collective self-
defence, if a country suffered an armed attack.

To support his point, he quoted Article 51 of the UN Charter which states inter
alia: “Nothing in the present Charter shall impair the inherent right of individual
or collective self-defense if an armed attack occurs against a member of the
United Nations…”

He said ECOWAS’ own supplementary protocol on non-aggression to the protocol
on mutual assistance on defense, mandated it to use force to defend itself or
themselves in the event of an armed attack, and Article 18(2) of the
supplementary protocol prohibits ECOWAS forces to intervene in a member
state, if the conflict remained purely internal.

“Clearly, ECOWAS cannot rely on this ground as there has not been an
armed attack and the conflict is also purely internal,” Mr. Amoani-Koto said.
His second ground is where the UN Security Council, acting under Chapter VII
of the UN Charter, authorized the use of force against another state for the
maintenance of international peace and security.

Mr. Amoani-Koto said within this scope, the UN also allowed regional bodies
such as ECOWAS to adopt measures to maintain peace and security in their
regions, under Article 52.

However, Article 53 demanded regional bodies to seek authorization from
the Security Council, before embarking on any enforcement action against
a member state, he added.

Mr. Amoani-Koto argued that the current situation in Cote d’Ivoire, though
disturbing, was an internal matter which did not trigger the passage of a resolution
by the UN Security Council to use force in the country. “It is also unlikely that such
a resolution could be passed successfully at a UN Security Council meeting.”

The third ground, he said, was the prevention of humanitarian catastrophe,
although there was no consensus among international jurists and writers on the
use of force to prevent humanitarian catastrophe.

“Thus under customary international law, a state or group of states may not
need the UN’s approval where there is humanitarian catastrophe needing urgent
response in circumstances where human rights abuses are so grave as to breach
all acceptable norms under international law and the country is sliding into a state
of anarchy.”

Mr. Amoani-Koto said Cote d’Ivoire had not yet reached this stage to warrant
outside intervention. He suggested that the international community should quickly
find pacific means of settling the dispute.

Mr. Amoani-Koto said in the current situation, there is no civil war, as was
in the cases of Liberia and Sierra Leone in the 1990s, but a disputed election
result where there were two different results from two different bodies.

”The Ivorian crisis is an interesting puzzle which could only be solved by first,
the international community standing down on its earlier stand, meaning that
ECOWAS must ignore and cancel its communiqué that recognizes Ouattara as
the winner of the elections and the threat to use force if Gbagbo does not step down.

“It also suggested that all the parties must do away with their intransigent
stand and come back to the negotiating table to resolve the matter.”

Mr. Amoani-Koto said the country could start from a fresh point of the
diplomatic process by encouraging the parties to agree to rerun the election
or the recount of votes in the disputed areas or considering power sharing as the
way forward. However, he said “power sharing is not the way forward”. GNA

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'Ghana won’t fight in a needless war'
Posted on Monday 10 January 2011 - 10:55
AfricaNews Monitoring Team Credit: Ghanaian Times

The Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) has lauded President Mills'
decision not to commit troops to Cote d'Ivoire to fight in
a "needless war", saying a war in that country will not be in the
interest of Ghana.
"The soldiers fully support and are satisfied with the decision
of the Commander-in-Chief of the GAF," Lt. General J.H. Smith,
Minister of Defence told newsmen in Accra.

He said "the soldiers believe that although they have a duty to
be prepared and assigned to missions, sending them on a
military mission to forcibly oust the incumbent Ivorian President,
Laurent Gbagbo, would be improper."

ECOWAS Heads of State recently agreed to the use of military
force to resolve the political crisis in La Cote d'lvoire, and asked
member states to contribute troops.

However, Ghana cannot contribute troops because her forces are
outstretched, according to the President.

He explained during his encounter with editors in Accra last
Friday, that the nation could not commit more troops because
in addition to limited numbers of the forces available, the
government did not believe that military action was the solution
to the crisis in La Cote d'lvoire.

Gen. Smith explained that the President's decision was based on
the result of a critical analysis of the situation in La Cote d'lvoire,
indicating that there was no need to commit more troops since
there were already about 500 Ghanaian soldiers serving with the
UN Peace Mission in that country.


Besides the troops in La Cote d'lvoire, he said over 4,000
Ghanaian troops were serving on other peacekeeping operations
in Liberia, Congo and Lebanon, adding that "we recently pulled
out of Chad on the advice of the UN."

He said before sending out troops, the rule required that such a
move would not affect a country's capacity for internal security,
saying the GAF High Command advised the President on the
need to have adequate numbers for homeland security, including
protecting the oil , resources.

"It is laudable that the President heeded the advice of the GAF
High Command," he stressed. Supporting the President's view
that military force would not solve the Ivorian crisis, Gen. Smith
was of the opinion that the ECOWAS Secretariat should have
consulted experts to critically analyse the crisis before asking the
Heads of State to take a decision on that country.

"This is because the sub-region will suffer serious consequences
if a war should start in La Cote d'lvoire. It's easy to start a war
but very difficult to sustain and end it," the Defence Minister said,
adding that "our President has taken a very wise decision."

He said there was the need for all avenues to be explored to
resolve the political impasse before a military intervention might
be considered as a last resort.

Asked about the welfare of the Ghanaian troops already in Ivory
Coast, the Defence Minister noted that a high powered team was
constantly monitoring the Ivorian situation and briefing the
President on a daily basis.

Last November's presidential election has left Ivory Coast divided
with incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo and opposition leader,
Alassane Ouattara, claiming to be winners of the polls, and
declared themselves as President.