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| Africa Subsaharan |
| Gbagbo on Africa charm offensive |
| 2011-01-27 |
| [The Nation (Nairobi)] Cote d'Ivoire strongman Laurent Gbagbo has dispatched emissaries to various countries in Africa to seek support and shed light on alleged irregularities during the disputed presidential elections. Mr Gbagbo's special advisor, Williams Atteby, who is expected to meet President Kibaki on Thursday, said his colleagues have already been to Togo, Mozambique and Zimbabwe and that he would be heading to Ethiopia after the Kenyan visit. "We are not coming to undermine the mission of the African Union. We want to get African countries informed about the situation on Cote d'Ivoire," Mr Atteby said during an interview at a Nairobi hotel. The official further said that Prime Minister Raila Odinga, who is the AU-appointed mediator and who had been rejected by Mr Gbagbo's camp, is still welcome in Abidjan "but his term of reference should be clear and not that Gbagbo should step down for Allassane Ouattara." "Mr Odinga is welcome as he is coming to work for peace. What we need is clear objective of his mission statement. We have no problem with him," Mr Atteby said. He insisted that Mr Gbagbo won the country's election and that there was massive rigging in favour of Mr Ouattara in his northern stronghold. (Read: UN envoy says Ouattara won) Mr Atteby said the country's constitutional court has the sole mandate of declaring the poll winner, adding that the Independent Electoral Commission only gives provisional results. While the electoral body declared Mr Ouattara the winner, the court nullified the results and declared Mr Gbagbo the winner, leading to the current stalemate. Mr Atteby accused La Belle France and the US of having allegedly arm-twisted the electoral commission to unlawfully declare Mr Ouattara the winner. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has also called on the international community to investigate allegations of malpractices in Cote d'Ivoire's polls. However, The infamous However... Mr Atteby said his team has been unable to meet acting Foreign Affairs minister George Saitoti and Thursday's meeting with the President was also uncertain. On Tuesday, ODM MPs accused PNU of inviting Mr Atteby's team to discredit Mr Odinga's efforts in the West African country. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #5 China had its three kingdoms, the Macedonians and Alexandar, the Russians had their fair share, so it is a genetic disposition it is universal and also mutable; imagine the Gore/Bush election back in the day, would that have been a Rubicon moment? IMHO it comes down to culture and circumstance. Culture changes over generations (at least it used to, I have a theory that communications ability directly affects the rate of change but anyways...). Yes this is a new concept for government, Yes there is a lot at stake. To be honest, I am surprised the machetes are not already being cleaned. It could be that some org somewhere is prepping for an intervention. Could be politically savvy to know that a lot of bigwigs are watching and no matter how one feels about how this situation happened, may know that whoever draws first will likely look like the bad guy. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2011-01-27 19:03 |
| #4 Yes. And often enough with the acquiescence, if not the support, of the Church. |
| Posted by: lotp 2011-01-27 18:53 |
| #3 on the flimsiest of excuses. But with nicely sharpened weaponry. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2011-01-27 17:19 |
| #2 It's no different than the behavior of European nobles in the dark and middle ages, anon1, many of whom held lands and titles on the flimsiest of excuses. |
| Posted by: lotp 2011-01-27 11:55 |
| #1 interesting, Fred Don't you all think the wrangling has gone on too long? If the AU was going to intervene militarily they would have done so by now as is usually the case nobody wants to get involved and who can blame them when the machetes come out in africa nobody want to be involved the african leaders just can't help themselves, they love clinging to power. You can't get rid of them unless by force especially not after 2 terms. it's almost so universally entrenched in Africa, the refusal to admit defeat and leave office, one might almost think it is a genetic characteristic and thus immutable. |
| Posted by: anon1 2011-01-27 08:43 |