AU chief discusses crisis with Ivory Coast rivals

Agencies/Abidjan

Ally Coulibaly, Ivory Coast’s newly-named ambassador to France, speaks to Ivorian expatriates outside the embassy in Paris yesterday

Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika went into a meeting with Laurent Gbagbo, whom he urged early this month to step down to “avoid a bloodbath”, immediately after arriving in Abidjan on a surprise visit.

The head of the 53-nation African Union later met Alassane Ouattara, internationally recognised to have won the November 28 election but confined to his hotel camp for weeks by soldiers loyal to Gbagbo.

“My responsibility is to listen to the two, to hear their opinion on how we can move forward,” he told reporters before flying out from Blantyre as the latest in a string of envoys to attempt to resolve the standoff.

“Even if these people (other envoys) have already come, that does not mean that I cannot do the same to help,” he said.

Africa is due to hold around 20 presidential elections over the next 18 months and regional leaders are concerned the impasse could encourage poll disputes elsewhere.

A delegation from West African bloc Ecowas meanwhile headed to the US where they wanted to meet President Barack Obama and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon over the crisis, the Nigerian foreign minister said in Abuja.

The Economic Community of West African States, currently headed by Nigeria, has threatened military intervention amid concerns the dragging dispute will ignite civil conflict and cause a humanitarian crisis.

“True,” Nigerian Foreign Minister Odein Ajumogobia said, confirming media reports on the planned meetings in the US but declining to give details.

Ajumogobia on Monday called on the UN Security Council to authorise force in Ivory Coast.

The 15-nation Ecowas “requires unequivocal international support through an appropriate UN Security Council resolution to sanction the use of force,” he said.

Sierra Leone President Ernest Koroma lead the team to Washington. Ecowas commission president James Victor Gbeho was also part of the mission.

White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said the delegation was scheduled to hold talks with Obama’s national security advisor, Thomas Donilon.

Ouattara’s position was meanwhile reinforced by a definitive report from European Union observers stating that his claim to be president was “credible”.

“A recount is not in the least necessary,” said Romanian MEP Christian Preda, who presented the report on behalf of some 120 observers from across the 27-state EU bloc, plus Norway and Switzerland.

Ouattara was declared winner by the Independent Electoral Commission by about 400,000 votes but a constitutional council overturned the decision and handed victory to Gbagbo.

This mean there was “not the slightest problem” in proclaiming the winner, Preda said.

The elections in November were postponed six times by Gbagbo, whose mandate ended in 2005, and were intended to unite the country split into government- and rebel-held areas by a 2002 civil war.  Post-election violence has already left 260 people dead while about 29,000 have fled into neighbouring Liberia, according to the UN.

The refugees had overwhelmed 23 villages along the border with Ivory Coast, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf said.  “Our citizens have been sharing their rice and other produce recently harvested, but they are now overwhelmed, and camps are being built to hold the many thousands of our Ivorian brothers and sisters,” she said.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has called the UN’ stance on Ivory Coast “simplistic” and urged investigations into the disputed November presidential elections, his spokesman said yesterday.  “This is the proposal that we think should be made to the African Union: there is need for further investigation (into the election),” Tamale Mirundi said yesterday, saying his comments were based on remarks made by Museveni at a meeting outside the capital.