It has been interesting following discussions on the Ivorian Crisis and it has been very interesting also listening to the many distortions that keep being repeated about the crisis in very desperate attempts to make wrongs look good. Below are few of them;
1. That the Ivorian Constitutional Council is balanced and objective because the constitution provides for all former Presidents to be members
The reality is that the constitutional council as exists is made up strongly of Gbagbo loyalists including its head Paul Yao Ndre. There is only one former President in the Ivory Coast in the person of Henri Konan Bedie and Bedie himself was a contestant in the recent polls thus not on the Constitutional Council which decided to arbitrarily and lawlessly cancel results from the strongholds of Ouattara
2. That the Ivorian Constitutional Council was within its powers to cancel the results as it did
The fact is that the Ivorian Constitutional Council has no such powers! What it can do which is permissible within Ivorian law is to cancel fully the elections and arrange for a new one! It has no powers to cancel partially as it did! And it is obvious that it chose to do so because there was no way the cronies of Gbagbo and Gbagbo himself were ready to leave power! Indeed though the Gbagbo camp initially protested against results in 4 Regions, the constitutional council ended up cancelling results in 7 regions!
3. That the Electoral Commission ought to have declared the results within 72 hours of the close of polls and that failure meant the Constitutional Council had it in its authority to declare the results
This claim is nothing but utter falsehood!
4. Could Gbagbo have won the election?
First of all, let us remember some historical and demographic facts.
Why Gbagbo won in 2000?
Laurent Gbagbo until 1999/2000 was a relative political outsider in the politics of the Ivory Coast! He could have been compared more to someone like Edward Mahama in Ghana and his party to the PNC. The two largest Parties in the country at that time was Felix Houphet Boigny’s PDCI-RDA, then led by Henri Konan Bedie and the Rally of the Republicans (RDR) led by Alassane Ouattara. Laurent Gbagbo’s party was the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI).
Now Laurent Gbagbo won the 2000 General Elections basically because the two leading political protagonists Henri Konan Bedie and Alassane Ouattara were disqualified from contesting by the then Military leader of the Ivory Coast, Robert Guei. The Parties of these candidates therefore boycotted the elections. However, Robert Guei in trying to give the 2000 elections a semblance of democracy allowed Laurent Gbagbo and the leaders of other smaller parties to contest him for the Presidency.
The mood of the people was that, it was better for them to elect a civilian as President, whoever he was than to keep a military man. So Gbagbo won by 59.4%. Incidentally, Robert Guei tried the same gymnastics Gbagbo is using now but it took the Ivorian people to take to the streets and get Guei out.
Strongholds of the Parties
Now, the base of the Parties makes interesting reading as well
The population of Côte d'Ivoire is ethnically diverse. More than sixty indigenous ethnic groups are often cited,These may be reduced to four major cultural regions-
-the East Atlantic (primarily Akan) The largest Akan populations in Côte d'Ivoire are the Baoulé, who make up nearly 18 percent of the total population, and the Agni (Anyi), who make up only about 5 percent of the total mostly support PDCI/RDA
West Atlantic (primarily Kru),mostly support FPI and the UDPCI
Voltaic, The most numerous of these, the Sénoufo, made up about 10 percent of the total population in the 1980s-mostly support RDR
Mandé peoples--including the Malinké, Bambara, Juula, and smaller, related groups--made up about 17 percent of the population of Côte d'Ivoire .mostly vote for the RDR
The largest Akan populations in Côte d'Ivoire are the Baoulé, who make up nearly 18 percent of the total population, and the Agni (Anyi), who make up only about 5 percent of the total .
They inhabit the center and eastern part of the country and from where both Houphet-boigny and Konan Bedie originate. The Baoule tradition, culture, language etc. is very similar to the Akans of Ghana and are known to have migrated from modern day Ghana where they were part of the Akans into Ivory Coast. The Akans are the largest ethnic group in Ivory Coast and that is the main base of the PDCI-RDA.
The base of Alassane Ouattara’s RDR is the north of the country. The north of the Ivory Coast is inhabited mainly by people whose forbearers were from other countries but mainly from Burkina Faso and Mali as well as the tribes of Senoufous and the Malinkes. The North also has about 30% of the population. Now, during the era of the Felix Houphet Boigny, the country’s first President, he deliberately encouraged immigrants into the country because the booming economy then needed a bigger labour force which the indigenous Ivorian population could not provide. So he encouraged a lot of immigration into the country from Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Ghana, Nigeria, Liberia, Togo etc.. But the largest of these immigrants were from Burkina Faso and Mali.
The base of Laurent Gbagbo’s FPI is the Betes who are a minority ethnic group occupying the West of the country with less than 13% of the population.
The main city of Abidjan is mixed. Simply put, Abidjan is not the stronghold of any particular party. All the parties have support in Abidjan but have strongholds in specific neighborhoods.
Now from the above, it is obvious that Laurent Gbagbo would find it extremely difficult winning an election when the election is contested by Alassane Ouattara and Henri Konan Bedie and it would be almost impossible for him to win if those two become allies and that is exactly what happened. Going into the 2010 elections, Alassane Ouattara and Konan Bedie went into an alliance, the Rally of Houphouëtistes. The agreement was that while Konan Bedie and Alassane Ouattara would contest the first round as separate candidates, the two would ally in the second round should any of the two make it to the second round. This is how come Henri Konan Bedie who placed third in the first round with 25.24% of the votes came to support Ouattara who polled 32.07% in the first round. Laurent Gbagbo came first in the first round with 38..04%. The other Parties all together polled 4.65%.
Now with Konan Bedie and Ouattara allying, it meant that the strength of the two candidates was 57.31%. Again, it meant that if Ouattara won the Centre of the country, that is the Baoules, then he was assured of certain victory as he was already assured of the northern vote which he had won massively in the first round. And this is exactly what happened because Ouattara won the Center of the country which interestingly was under the control of Laurent Gbagbo. So the question is, did Ouattara rig in the Center of the country as well? in the Region of Lacs (Lakes) in the centre of the country for example, Ouattara won the second round by 80.35%.due mainly to the alliance with Bedie. He also won Nzi Comoe by 63.40% also due to the alliance with Beide.
5. Alassane Ouattara and the Northern Vote
The north of Ivory Coast sees itself as marginalized. The repeated attempts to block Ouattara from contesting the polls have only helped to solidify his northern stronghold, where many people now believe that a Ouattara win is a win for them all, and a redress of history. This would be seen in a massive turnout of voters during the voter registration process and the elections.
It is nearly impossible for Gbagbo to have won votes from the north, but Ouattara could still have won votes from the south, where Gbagbo has most of his support and that is exactly what happened. It is reflective to state again that Ouattara had struck a deal with Henri Konan Bedie, the Presidential candidate who came in a strong third and whose base is the Bauole center of the country, to support him as the frontrunner for the opposition in the second round.
This is exactly what happened because Ouattara won the Center of the country which interestingly was under the control of Laurent Gbagbo. So the question is, did Ouattara rig in the Center of the country as well? in the Region of Lacs (Lakes) in the centre of the country for example, Ouattara won the second round by 80.35%. He also won Nzi Comoe by 63.40%. Aside the center and North of the country, Ouattara also showed impressively all across the country including in Abidjan where he polled 48.1% of the votes!
6. That there was massive fraud which altered the election significantly
This couldn’t be farther from the truth and this is what both the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative who was tasked with certifying the elections and the Panel of Experts tasked by the AU to work with the committee of 5 Presidents have found.
First of all, it is instructive to note that the voter turnout in the first round was even more than that of the second round as announced by the Independent Electoral Commission. Many make various allegations about huge inflations of figures in various regions and even state that these inflations meant that the turnout in those regions were sometimes over 300% of the registered voters. This is a blatant lie because this would have certainly meant that the national voter turnout would have as well have been inflated in the second round. Interestingly, while the voter turnout in the first round was 83%, that of the second round was 81%.
Secondly, it is claimed that the huge fraud perpetrated in the North was the reason why Ouattara won. As explained above, this is clearly another distortion. Yes. Ouattara won by a landslide in the North as he did in the first round which Gbagbo accepted but Ouattara also won in the center of the country and showed impressively in the south and this is why he won the second round. Indeed, even in Abidjan which some want us to believe is a Gbagbo stronghold, Ouattara polled 48.10% of the votes as against the 51.90% of Gbagbo. So did he rig also in Abidjan?
Again, it should be noted that no one is saying that the election was perfect. It should be obvious to anyone that no election, the world over, is perfect. The critical issue is in every election therefore is whether the irregularities in the election was enough to significantly alter the verdict of the people. So in 2008 here in Ghana, there were irregularities in many places, notably, the Volta Region and Ashanti Region but because the irregularities were not enough to distort the will of the people, no one called for a re-run of the election.
Now the UN Special Representative in the Ivory Coast who was tasked to certifying the elections made it emphatically clear that even if all the tally sheets with which Gbagbo’s camp were protesting were taking out of the total results, Ouattara would still emerge victorious and he made this certification after tallying all the tally sheets from the over 20,000 polling stations which were collected by the UN and transported to Abidjan, copies of which were also sent to the Independent Electoral Commission.
This is the exact quote of the Special Representative
“I, as certifier of the Ivorian elections, have completed the analysis and evaluation of all the tally sheets transported by UNOCI and received from the IEC. Even if all the complaints made by the presidential camp to the Constitutional Council were taken into account in terms of numbers of tally sheets, and consequently the votes, the outcome of the second round of the presidential elections as proclaimed by the IEC President on 2 December would not change, with candidate Ouattara being the winner of the presidential election”
First of all, it is obvious to anyone who followed the election that the incidents of violence and irregularities were not limited to the North in both the first and second rounds. Indeed, in the first round the opposition protested greatly against incidents of violence and irregularities in both Abidjan and Gbagbo’s stronghold of the West. This even led Henri Konan Bedie to protest against his 3rd position in the reasoning that had it not been such irregularities, he would have been in the second round with Alassane Ouattara.
Again, it should be stated that the both AU Panel of Experts and the UN Special Rep realized that the tally sheets which lacked the signatures of any of the two parties in the second round were very few and that they would not alter the election results if taken out. Almost all the 20,000 tally sheets were signed by representatives of Gbagbo whether in the North, Center or South of the country.
Finally, it should also be stated that facing obvious defeat, what Gbagbo did was to protest against the election results in only four regions of the North. But the fact is that even if all the results from those four regions were cancelled, Alassane Ouattara would still emerge as winner and that is why the Constitutional Court ended up cancelling the results in seven regions instead.
7. That no Ivorian soldiers were in the North during the election
This is another absolute falsehood. By an arrangement of the UN which supervised the election, some forces of the government were allowed by the New Forces to go to the North and supervise the election there as well as help with security. It is by the same arrangement that allowed members of the New Forces to come to the South and especially into Abidjan to also supervise the elections and help with security arrangements. It is these members of the New Forces who rushed to the Gulf Hotel where Alassane Ouattara was to offer security when they sensed that the actions of Gbagbo and his loyalists might put Ouattara and his associates in danger. Let’s just ask, how did so many members of the New Forces get to Abidjan to protect Ouattara? This is the truth which has been distorted and changed!
8. That the African Union never recognized Alassane Ouattara
This is another absolute lie which was put out by people like Kwesi Pratt. The truth is that the African Union through its Peace and Security Council first recognized Alassane Ouattara as the President – elect of the Ivory Coast at its 251st Meeting held in Addis Ababa on the 4th December, 2010. The same Peace and Security Council reaffirmed this decision in its communiqué issued after its 252nd meeting on the 9th of December, 2010.
Again, the AU Chairperson, Jean Ping in a statement issued on 27th December, 2010 again expressed the need to protect the status of Alassane Ouattara as President elect.
Again, the Peace and Security Council of the African Union (AU), at its 259th meeting held on 28 January 2011, at the level of the Heads of State and Government reaffirmed its decision to recognize Alassane Ouattara as the legitimately elected President of the Ivory Coast.
The AU Heads of State Summit in January 2010 further endorsed all the communiqués of the Peace and Security Council which had clearly endorsed Alassane Ouattara. This is on page 6 of the 18 page document released after the Summit.
Finally, the Peace and Security Council at its 265th Meeting last week after receiving the report from the High‐Level Panel for the Resolution of the Crisis in Côte d'Ivoire reaffirmed its recognition of Alassane Ouattara and this was non-negotiable. What the AU seeks to negotiate are proposals it put in a 5 point document which included the proposal to form a unity government. This it should be stated was just a proposal and it is on such proposals that the AU has set a 2 week period to negotiate. However, it should be stated clearly that the status of Alassane Ouattara is not part of what would be negotiated.
The Panel of Experts after examining all the 20,000 tally sheets and talking to all the major players involved in the crisis could not come to any other position which was different from that of the Independent Electoral Commission and the UN Special Representative who all agree that the victory of Alassane Ouattara is incontrovertible.
9. That Military Action would mean certain War
This is also what many without necessary information and analysis have put out in this country for months.
First of all, lets remember that should Military Action be occur in this instance, that action can be best compared to what happened in 1979 when Julius Nyerere of Tanzania sent in troops into Uganda to get out Iddi Amin. Just like this instance, there existed rebel groups already in Uganda with one of them, the FRONASA led by current President Yoweri Museveni.
Also, let no one hallucinate into thinking that Gbagbo controls the Ivorian Army totally. What is clear is that he has the unflinching support of the top generals but his support among the ranks of the Military is not total. Indeed, there are credible reports that Alassane Ouattara won in the Military bases in the south by up to 62%. But since the elections in the bases were not declared separately, this report cannot be verified. What is clear however is that Ouattara has support within the Ivorian Army. Indeed some senior officers have recently crossed over to join Ouatara
Again, let no one think that Gbagbo’s Army is any crack unit. That is far from the case! Indeed, it was this same army which conceded close to 60% of the country to the New Forces Rebels in September 2002 barely hours after the New Forces Rebels then led by Guillaume Soro had launched their campaign. Had it not been France, the New Forces would have taken the whole country within days.
Just in these past few days, the Ivorian Army has conceded substantial territory to the rebels who have started a campaign in the West of the country and the rebels have taken 4 townships from government forces and are advancing. Let’s also remember that the Rebels can command at their disposal equal numbers of fighters just like Gbagbo!
The rebels just after starting their current campaign have spread in Abidjan and are now attacking several suburbs of Abidjan even including the stronghold of Gbagbo- yopugon.
Now there is talk also of Gbagbo’s youth who many think are ready to die for Gbagbo to remain in power. Well the situation on the ground does not seem to support this too. In the recent few weeks, supporters of Alassane Ouattara have taken control of one of the suburbs in Abidjan, Abobo, which is a traditional stronghold of Ouattara. These supporters of Ouattara have rendered Abobo, a virtual no go area for Gbagbo’s troops. Now Abobo is in Abidjan, just like the many youths of Gbagbo and under the command of Charles Ble Goude. So the simple question is, if these youths are so ready for Gbagbo to die, why have they not moved into Abobo to try to retake control of that suburb? Why are they interested in just mounting Road Blocks and harassing innocent citizens and foreigners? Is it not interesting that the rebels acting under the guise of so called Commando Invisible have adopted effective hit and ran methods on Gbagbos forces that he is now accusing Nigeria of supporting the rebels tactically and even claiming that Nigeria has brought in 500 mercenaries?
But put all these aside and another issue is the fact that the Forces of Laurent Gbagbo (who are increasingly wearing civilian clothes to avoid being hit by the COMMANDO INVISIBLE) as a result of the Economic strangleholds placed on the Gbagbo administration it is becoming soo difficult to pay civil servants.becuase the banks are closed and the nationalized ones don’t have the money to pay because the West African Central bank is not supplying them with money
But also eliminate this factor and ask yourself; who would have thought just two months ago that the Army of Egypt would watch opposition protesters take control of major cities and squares without bothering to use brutal force on these protesters and finally ask Mubarak to leave? Who thought that the Army in Tunisia would behave the same way? Who thought that members of the Libyan Army would abandon their so called cherished leader Gaddafi? So no one should deceive himself that an army would stick to one man till they all perish given these instances!
Again, let no one think that Military Action would mean sending in hundreds of thousands of troops before it can be successful. Everyone knows that in Military operations the main issue is about strategy and equipment and the motivation of the opposing forces.
10. That Gbagbo was a unifier and he allowed Ouattara and Bedie to contest
This is another lie which has been told all over.
The truth was that Ouattara and Bedie did not contest as a result of Gbagbo’s mercy! They contested as a result of a pact signed by all parties to the Ivorian conflict as well as political groupings. This pact was the ougadougou political agreement-2007-negotiated by Blaise campoare under the mandate of ecowas and AU. It is this same pact which allowed Laurent Gbagbo to stay in power for 5 more years after his term of office elapsed in October 30th 2005! The international community thought it wise to allow him to stay to supervise the implementation of earlier peace accords and ensure the disarmament thus the Ouagadougou was a prolongation of his mandate and a decree to allow Bedie and Ouatara to contest
Interestingly, it is this so called Unifier Gbagbo who before the second round had embossed on all his posters ‘hundred percent’, drawing people’s attention to the Ivorite concept of 100% indigene which had started the conflict in the first place. It was also clear from his campaign that he did not intend to leave power his slogan was WIN WIN..
11. That it is France and the West who are fomenting confusion
It is also interesting how one African leader after the other tries to blame the west for their misrule! Today, Gbagbo is blaming France. Interesting!
It is this same France which provided Laurent Gbagbo a safe haven in the 90s when he Gbagbo claimed he was being persecuted by Konan Bedie.
It is this same France which stepped into the conflict and prevented the New Forces Rebels from taking over the whole country. And it was this same France which was accused by the Rebels and others of aiding Gbagbo. This is why the Ivorian conflict was for many a pseudo conflict between America and France as America was suspected to be supporting the rebels while France was also seen to be backing Gbagbo!
Many also claim that it the west who are behind all attempts to get Gbagbo out! That is another blatant lie and the evidence is at the Security Council! Though China and Russia who are leaders of the East have veto powers on the council, none of them have ever vetoed any of the United Nations resolutions on the Ivory Coast.
12. The Critical Issue of the Numbers
Now, let’s look at the Numbers. So much noise has been made especially about the Northern votes especially in the second round and the fact that it is these votes that made Ouattara win. This could also not be farther from the truth. Now let’s look first at the figures from the five Northern Regions in the Ivory Coast in the first round and in the second round.
Savanes – (377, 640)
First round – Second Round
Alassane Ouattara – 255,228 307, 530 increase of 52,302
Gbagbo – 19,312 21, 203
Konan Bedie – 14,620
Others – 7,968
Spoilt Ballots – 21,059 5,590
Total Votes – 318, 187 334, 323 – increase of 16,136
** it is obvious here that the increase of about 55,000 in Ouattara’s votes were as a result of Ouattara winning votes from the other parties especially Bedie and the decrease in the number of Soilt ballots by about 16,000. However, the turnout in the second round was just 16,136!
Denguele – (78,374)
First Round Second Round
Alassane Ouattara – 58,950 70,357 increase – 11,407
Gbagbo – 1, 617 1,551
Bedie- 1,587
Others – 946
Spoilt Ballots – 3,010 603
Total – 63,100 72,511 increase of 9,411
** Again, in this instance the increase of 11,407 in Ouattara’s votes can be attributed to the increase in the turnout in the second round by 9,411 as well as the votes of Konan Bedie and the other aspirants. It is also instructive to note that in this instance Laurent Gbagbo’s votes decreased in the second round by just 66!
Bafing – (38,766)
First Round Second Round
Alassane Ouattara – 21,561 26,871 increase of 5,310
Gbagbo – 4, 666 5,555
Bedie – 1,519
Others – 1,648
Spoilt Ballots – 2,229 719
Total Votes – 31,623 33,145 increase of 1,522
Worodougou –( 108,940)
First Round Second Round
Alassane Ouattara – 76,110 93,990 increase of 17,880
Laurent Gbagbo – 6,060 5,263
Konan Bedie – 3, 595
Others – 1,587
Spoilt Ballots – 4,641 1,309
Total Votes – 91,993 100,562 increase of 8569
** Here again, the votes of Alassane Ouattara can be attributed to the increase in turnout as well as the votes from other candidates especially Konan Bedie and the decrease in the spoilt ballots from the first round.
Vallee du bandama –( 374,122)
First Round Second Round
Alassane Ouatara – 144,637 244,471 increase of 99,834
Laurent Gbagbo – 27,305 41,789
Konan Bedie – 111,881
Others – 6,296
Spolit Ballots - 15,216 6,444
Total Votes – 305,335 292,659 decrease of 12, 676
Alassane Ouattara in all increased his votes from the North in second Round over that of the First Round by 186, 733. Meanwhile, the difference between the votes of Alassane Ouattara in the first round and that of the second round was 1,002,073. So how can anyone claim that Ouattara’s election was as a result of abnormal increases in the North, when as we have seen, there was nothing abnormal about the votes in the second round and when the increases in his votes in the second round in the north were much less than his victory margin and even more less than the difference of his votes in the first round and second round? Only in the logic of Laurent Gbagbo and his cohorts can this happen! Simply, Alassane Ouattara even without his increases in the North in the second round, would have still won the elections by 189,376 votes!
Now, with this it is obvious that Ouattara won more votes all across the country and especially in Gbagbo controlled areas in the second round and this is the reason why Ouattara won hands down! Critical to Ouattara’s victory in the second round was the Center of the country which is the stronghold of Konan Bedie and his RDA-PDCI and other similar areas in the country. It should be reiterated that these areas are under the control of Gbagbo! And Ouattara did so well because of the support of Bedie and the Alliance formed as indicated! Now lets also look at few figures from such regions
Lacs (Lakes) – (219,358)
First Round Second Round
Alassane Ouattara – 26,631 129,331(increase of 102,700)
Laurent Gbagbo – 22,529 31,632
Konan Bedie – 119,754 )
Others – 4,579
Total Votes – 180,869 164,409
**The Lacs (Lakes) region is in the center of the country and under the control of Laurent Gbagbo; yet as we can see, Alassane Ouattara was able to win over 102,000 more votes in this region alone in the second round and this is attributable mainly to the support of Henri Konan Bedie as I keep repeating. Gbagbo also won close to 10,000 more votes; but the increase in votes in Ouattara’s votes was overwhelming.
Nzi – Comoe (264,975)
First Round Second Round
Alassane Ouattara – 15,031 120,311 (increase of 105,280)
Laurent Gbagbo – 50,631 69,456
Konan Bedie – 136,851
Others – 6,339
Total Votes – 222,192 196,048
** Nzi Comoe is also in the Centre of Ivory Coast and under the control of Laurent Gbagbo but here again and as we can see, Alassane Ouattara won over 105,000 more votes in the second round. Again, this was basically as a result of his alliance with Henri Konan Bedie who won this region massively in the first round.
Bas- Sassandra - (349,325)
First Round Second Round
Alassane Ouattara – 52,135 126, 202
Laurent Gbagbo – 87,690 113, 371
Konan Bedie – 104,798
Others – 8,197
Total Votes – 273,498 248,859
** The region of Bas Sassandra is in the extreme South West of the country and fully under the control of Laurent Gbagbo. It borders Liberia. But as we can see here, Alassane Ouattara increased his votes by 74,067 votes in the second round and won the region which he gave him only 20% votes in the first round. Gbagbo also increased his votes by 28,681. But the increase of Gbagbo obviously comes nowhere near that of Ouattara and this is again mainly as a result of the alliance with Konan Bedie.
It is interesting that in only these three regions (two in the center and one in the south), Alassane Ouattara increased his votes in the second round over that of the first round by 282,047. So, Ouattara won more votes in these 3 regions in the second round as compared to the 5 Northern Regions which people have made so much noise about.
This is what people haven’t been saying! Alassane Ouattara would have still won the elections even without his increases in the North! He did tremendously well in the Center and South in the Second Round and that is why he won!
Few figures from Regions Gbagbo won to show how impressive Ouattara did in the second Round. In Abidjan (including the non-districts) while Ouattara won 241,383 more votes in the second round, Gbagbo won 121,891 votes.
In the Dix-Huit Montagne (eighteen mountains) Region in the west of the country and under the control of Gbagbo, while Ouattara won 79,192 more votes in the second round, Gbagbo only won 24,616 more votes. In this region, Ouattara’s votes due more to the support from Albert Mabri who came second in the region in the first round by winning 86,951 votes in this region in the first round.
In the Marahoue Region also in the center and under the control of Gbagbo, virtually doubled his votes in the second round by winning 31,352 more votes in the second round, Gbagbo only won 11,450 votes.
In the Moyen Cavally Region in the South West, while Ouattara more than doubled his votes in the second round by gaining 21,274 more votes in the second Round, Gbagbo won only 11,741 votes.
In the Moyen Comoe region which borders Ghana and under the control of Gbagbo, while Ouattara won 18,505 more votes in the second round, Gbagbo won only 8,584 votes.
Another case is that of the Zanzan Region, where Gbagbo won in the first round but due to the alliance with Konan Bedie, Ouattara won 41966 more votes in the second round to win the region by 52.94% (Ouattara had only 24.95% in the first round) though Gbagbo also won 16,537 more votes.
13. That there is a split in the African Union over the Crisis
Now this is another big fallacy. Laurent Gbagbo’s own Minister of Foreign Affairs, Alcide Djedje last week while in Ethiopia stated that the Gbagbo camp was supported by seven countries.
He listed these countries as Angola, South Africa, Equatorial Guinea, Gambia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda and Ghana.
Now, Africa is made up of 53 countries; now how can anyone claim that there is a split in the African stance because 7 out of these 53 countries support Gbagbo? How can there be such a split when as stated earlier, the Heads of State Summit held just in January endorsed the Communiques of the Peace and Security Council which recognized Ouattara as President elect?
It is also very interesting to note that out of the seven countries listed as supporting Gbagbo, 5 can be described as pure dictatorships! These are Eduardo Dos Santos’ Angola, Obiang Nguema’s Equatorial Guinea, Yahaya Jameh’s Gambia, Joseph Kabila’s DRC and Yoweri Museveni’s Uganda! Clearly, the dictators in Africa want their companion to stay!
THE WAY FORWARD
For me it should be simple. Laurent Gbagbo and his cohorts are making all their false claims because Gbagbo and his cohorts don’t want to leave power. Meanwhile, the country is already on the verge of a civil war which as I continue saying is the greatest threat to all citizens and foreigners in the country as well as the sub-region. This civil war can only be prevented if the will of the people is protected and thus Gbagbo leaves. In short, everything must be done to get Laurent Gbagbo out!
