No major breakthrough is achieved in Ivory Coast’s bitter presidential crises.
No major breakthrough is achieved in Ivory Coast’s bitter presidential crises. Although the incumbent Presiden Laurent Gbagbo has agreed to further talks and has promised to lift a blockade around the temporary headquarters of rival Alassane Ouattara, the defiant man still refuses to step down while as the internationally recognized President, is not willing to meet Gbagbo until he cedes power.
But the diplomatic mission is still going on, African Union’s envoy and Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga said.
On Wednesday, Odinga spoke to journalists, saying that mediators in the Ivory Coast political crisis are going "the extra mile" to negotiate the departure of the West African nation's defiant leader to avoid any bloodshed that is likely to follow if force is used to remove Gbagbo.
SLIGHT SHIFT
On Tuesday, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the African Union said that that Gbagbo had "agreed to negotiate a peaceful end to the crisis without any preconditions".
But it did not elaborate on what actions that would entail other than lifting a blockade around the hotel where his rival is based.
Media reports said that Gbagbo was willing to meet Ouattara, and to lift the blockade surrounding the hotel where his rival is held up, but he was still defiant, refusing to step down.
Ali Coulibaly, an Ouattara aide, told the AFP news agency that Ouattara had rejected what mediators said was an offer from Gbagbo to negotiate a resolution.
"All we're waiting for is for him to go," Coulibaly said. "The rest is of no interest to us. Gbagbo is trying to put people's consciences to sleep. His word has no importance of any kind. What does a peaceful solution mean? We want Gbagbo to go, that's all."
On the other hand, Odinga said he had told Gbagbo that power-sharing is not an option in the troubled West African country.
"I did tell him that that option is not available here. The Kenyan solution is not really a solution at all. If followed, it will actually hamper the democratization process on the continent," he said.
MILITARY INTERVENTION REMAINS OPTION
Meanwhile, the head of regional bloc ECOWAS said military intervention to oust Gbagbo remained an option if talks failed to end an impasse.
"A military option is still on the cards," Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) chief James Victor Gbeho told reporters on Tuesday.
"It is without doubt that the ECOWAS position is that if there is no joy in exploiting the peaceful situation then the military objective can also be considered as a tool for sustainable resolution of the crisis in Cote d'Ivoire," he said.
Gbeho added however that if there were even a "half a percent chance" of a peaceful solution to the standoff, it would be exploited “in order to obviate the force option.”
"We are aware of the dangers in the force option particularly in a country like Cote d'Ivoire where almost all citizens and ethnic groups of our ECOWAS region are represented, and so it is an option that must be used with a lot of circumspection," he said.
ECOWAS agreed at its last summit in December 24 that Gbagbo must cede power to Ouattara, as the winner of November 28 elections, or face military intervention by the regional bloc.
