Cote d’Ivoire: Beyond Gbagbo’s Capture

War is organised insanity; it is humanity’s sickness unto death”, declares John Stoessinger, an American professor of Global Diplomacy, in his classic: “Why Nations Go to War”.

He further says that the outbreak of war and the coming of peace are separated by a road that leads from misconception to reality; implying by conjecture, that war remains the best teacher of reality, as it is also the most effective cure for war itself.

In the history of mankind, it has become a truism that war mongers will not stop until they are stopped by initiatives that attempt to save civilisation.

The crisis in the West African country of Cote d’Ivoire, which has occasioned a humanitarian catastrophe of enormous proportions, situates itself within this context.

International affairs experts say that Cote d’Ivoire, since the days of Felix Houphouet Boigny, its founding leader, had enjoyed relative political stability, while its economy prospered as world’s largest cocoa exporter.

However, since when Laurent Gbagbo came into power, things have never been the same again. The crisis bedeviling Cote d’Ivoire peaked to a crescendo last November, when Gbagbo lost the presidential election and refused to hand over to his arch political rival, Allasane Ouattara.

Gbagbo, a professor of history, had himself been a most virulent critic of Boigny, while the latter was in office. Boigny, it was said, predicted in private quarters that his country stood doomed the day people like Gbagbo became its leader. Little wonder then that some observers are now calling Boigny a “prophet”!

The failure of Gbagbo to cede power, in spite of repeated appeals by the UN, AU, ECOWAS and other members of the international community, plunged the nation into military hostilities between forces of the rival leaders. This led to loss of lives and property, as well as a complete dislocation of the nation’s economy.

On April 11, however, ground forces loyal to Ouattara, supported from the air by UN peace keepers and elite French troops, captured Gbagbo in a bunker underneath the Presidential Villa, where he was holed up.

Prof. Bola Akinterinwa, acting Director-General of the Nigerian Institute for International Affairs (NIIA), described Gbagbo’s capture as “a victory for democracy”, which should serve as a lesson to other “sit-tight leaders” in Africa.

“It is a victory for democracy, Nigeria and ECOWAS. This development will further boost Nigeria’s foreign policy, which propagates respect for the people’s will.

“As the Chair of ECOW AS, Nigeria channelled the cause for peace and stability in Cote d’ I voire; not only at the regional level but also at the AU and UN,” he stated.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, while conveying the position of the U.S. government on the development, said that Gbagbo’s arrest “has sent a strong signal to dictators and tyrants”.

“They may disregard the voices of their own people but there will be consequences for those who cling to power,” Clinton said.

Observers recall that while the protracted political struggle between Gbagbo and Ouattara lasted, lots of lives had been lost, many in circumstances that hinged on criminality. The UN has said that it would investigate all the war crimes committed, with a view to bringing all the culprits to book, regardless of their factional leanings.

The UN High Commission for Human Rights. (UNHCR) said that at least 530 people had been killed in western towns of Duekoue, Guiglo, Blolequin and Bangolo in Cote d’Ivoire since the end of March.

The UN agency called on all parties to the crisis in Cote d’Ivoire to avoid reprisal attacks and work toward national reconciliation, warning that any treatment meted out to Gbagbo while in custody would send strong signals on the direction the country would go.

In the meantime, the President of the UN Human Rights Council has already named three legal experts to investigate allegations of human rights abuses in the country.

Prof. Vitit Muntabhom, a Thai, who previously served as the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in North Korea is leading the commission, while other members include Suliman Baldo, a conflict resolution expert from Sudan, and Ms Reine Alapini Gansou, a lawyer from Benin Republic.

The commission is expected to present its findings to the council at its next session in June 2011.

International affairs experts have expressed fears about Cote d’Ivoire’s future, given the acrimony that bedeviled the citizenry as a result of the civil war. They, therefore, called on all stakeholders to facilitate reconciliation in the country.

Sharing similar sentiments, several African statesmen have been calling for efforts to promote a lasting peace in the country.

For instance, Nigeria’s Foreign Affairs Minister Odein Ajumogobia said, shortly after Gbagbo’s capture, that’ ‘the immediate challenge is to address the humanitarian crisis resulting from the war.

“In the post-conflict Cote d’Ivoire, the coming weeks and months will no doubt pose enormous and complex challenges, especially in the area of reconciliation of the people, the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the country’s economy.

‘An essential element here would be for the new leadership to exercise utmost restraint and magnanimity; and to build bridges across all divides to forge a peaceful and united Ivorian nation.

“We will work with President Alassane Ouattara to bring relief to Cote d’Iviore and with our other neighbours in the sub-region; Liberia, Burkina Faso, Ghana and those who have had a direct impact from refugees crossing the border,” Ajumogobia said.

According to the minister, the Ivorian experience is a lesson for leaders to be responsive to the wishes of the electorate.

He urged Ouattara to now act as a statesman and refrain from anything that could hinder efforts to bring lasting peace and stability to his country.

Ajumogobia pledged Nigeria’s support to the Ouattara-led government through fruitful partnership.

On his part, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on Ouattara to form a government of national unity, so as to foster the reconciliation of the country’s divisions.

The UN scribe welcomed Ouattara’s call for the immediate establishment of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, while urging all parties to the Ivorian crises to take advantage of the historic opportunity to work for national reconciliation.

Besides, Ban urged Cote d’lvoire to ensure accountability for serious human rights violations committed during the post-election conflict.

Ouattara, no doubt, seems to be aware of the huge task of re-uniting a country shattered by civil war, by reason of his various pronouncements during the crisis, particularly after Gbagbo’ s capture.

“I call on my fellow countrymen to abstain from all forms of reprisal and violence,” Ouattara said in a speech on his TCI television, soon after Gbagbo’ s capture.

“Our country has turned a painful page in its history,” he said, urging irate youth militias to lay down their weapons, while pledging to restore security to the battered nation,” he said.

Ouattara described the times as “a new era of hope”, while pledging the fair treatment of Gbagbo, his captured arch political rival, “according to law”.

Gbagbo, on his part, looked submissive and startled after his capture, as he spoke briefly on Ouattara’s Tel television, calling on his loyalists to lay down their arms.

In what looked like a big boost to his legitimacy, Ouattara has already received the backing of Gbagbo’s former military top brass, including Gen. Philippe Mangou, Gbagbo’s former army chief of staff, and” all the generals of the ground, air and navy forces”, who all swore allegiance to Ouattara.

Analysts say that it is not clear whether pro-Gbagbo militias, who had said they would fight to the bitter end, would heed calls to lay down their arms, nor is it clear if the 46 per cent of the citizens, who voted for Gbagbo in the election, would accept his defeat in good faith.

This is because pockets of resistance still abound in parts of Abidjan up till last weekend.

Notwithstanding these little problems, however, observers express high expectations that in the course of time, peace will return to the beleaguered country.

In the meantime, support has been coming in for the Ouattara­ government, as several governments across the world have pledged various forms of assistance to the regime.

u.s. Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice said that the Obama­ administration would support and assist the Ouattara in efforts to “recover and rebuild” Cote d’Ivoire.

“We are ready to help Cote d’Ivoire recover and rebuild, and we will support UN efforts to carryon its important peacekeeping and humanitarian work,” she said.

Rice, nonetheless, reiterated her government’s desire for a quick return to peace in Cote d’Ivoire, stressing that the international community also shared the same expectation.

“The Ivorians deserve a government that recognises their fundamental human rights, while respecting their will. And that opportunity begins today,” she said, shortly after Gbagbo’s capture.

Rice commended the UN Operation in Cote d ‘Ivoire (UNOC!) as well as the French forces for the robust implementation of their mandate to protect civilians, in line with the UN Security Council Resolution 1975.

As part of measures to offer relief to Cote d’Ivoire, the World Food Programme has launched a life-saving operation, which involves the airlift of foods, medicines and other supplies to the displaced citizens and refugees in neigbouring countries.

“We need to open up a humanitarian lifeline to many Ivorians, who are now victims of alarming shortages of food, water and other basic needs,” WFP’s Executive Director, Josette Sheeran, said.

She added that the WFP operation was part of plans to offer 15,000 tonnes of cereals, vegetable oil and other food assistance to the needy in the areas.

“The deteriorating security situation, difficulties of moving around and the difficulty of food procurement in Cote d’Ivoire have compounded the already arduous logistics conditions which WFP has had to confront.

“Right now, an airlift is the best way forward,” Sheeran said.

While these laudable efforts are underway, observers stress the need to heed the advice of Alain Le Roy, Under-Secretary of UN’s Department of Peacekeeping Operations, who said that the Ivorian crisis was far from over, despite Gbagbo’ s capture.

Speaking after briefing the UN Security Council in New York on Cote d’Ivoire’s situation, Le Roy noted that pockets of resistance by Gbagbo’s loyalists still’ existed in Abidjan, stressing that the major task now was how to restore law and order in the country and kick start a reconciliation process .

International affairs analysts say that the Ivorian crisis and others like it aptly remind Africa that its continental and regional bodies had yet to muster the required clout to promptly and effectively resolve crises on the continent.

The highly discordant tones of the leaders over the required course of action over Cote d’Ivoire, they add, is worrisome since many spoke from both sides of the mouth.

The Libyan debacle is by the comer and is far from abating, even as the AU appears helpless, due largely to what some observers describe as the moral bankruptcy of many African leaders.

They say that many African leaders had overstayed their terms in office, thereby eroded their leverage to exercise any moral authority on their errant counterparts.

Many observers, however, hope that the capture of Gbagbo and events that follow subsequently, will offer auspicious platforms for Cote d’Ivoire to truly rediscover itself and rise up from the ashes of war.

Ohain  writes for News Agency of Nigeria

Celsus Ohain