It’s been a month since the results of the contested November 28th presidential election were announced in Cote D’Ivoire, where things have taken a turn for the worse over the end-of-year holidays. As tensions and violence escalate – at least 170 people have been killed so far in post-election violence according to the UN — a top U.S. diplomat said he feared a “brutal situation” could result if the situation was not resolved soon.
Incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo continues to fend off international calls for his resignation following the nullification of poll results that indicated his opponent, Alassane Ouattara, had taken 54 percent of the vote to Gbagbo’s 46.
The election fiasco follows years of civil strife in the West African country, where a 2002 insurgency sparked a civil war that largely divided the country into two and resulted in the deployment of French, regional and eventually, UN peacekeepers. Cote D’Ivoire is the largest producer of cocoa in the world.
How have African institutions responded to the crisis? The African Union officially recognizes Outtara as the winner of the election, and has temporarily suspended Cote D’Ivoire from the continental body until Gbagbo relinquishes power to reflect this reality. It has also deployed Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga, who faced a similar situation in Kenya’s presidential elections of 2008, to help mediate the crisis. The Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS, also condemned the election and has been working to negotiated an asylum agreement for Gbagbo. Three African heads of state from the region were expected to deliver a strong message to the beleaguered leader on Tuesday — relinquish power or be ousted by force.
Few expect Gbagbo to budge. A top Gbagbo aide said demands from the United Nations, EU and African Union that the incumbent step down were a violation of the country’s sovereignty, and threatened to expel the top UN envoy in Cote D’Ivoire.
Many Africans expressed frustration with the lack of action from the region’s leaders to restore stability.
“It’s not sufficient for the African Union to say it is preventing Cote D’Ivoire from participating in African Affairs,” a senior researcher from the Nigeria Institute of International Affairs told the Digital Journal, calling for harsh sanctions against the country’s military, which has allowed the president to stay in power.
Another group, the African Freedom Foundation, or AFF, called on ECOWAS to deploy a force to Abidjan in order to install Ouatara as president.
“African leaders must learn to accept defeat with equanimity and put national interest and continental prosperity above the selfish quest for power,” wrote Uche Igwe, a visiting scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center, in Pambazuka News.
