Foreign Policy Blogs

Update: Ivory Coast’s Gbagbo Negotiating Surrender

The UN here says that the “war in Cote D’ivoire is over”, and apparently Gbagbo is hiding in the basement, negotiating his terms of surrender. What this political exist  entail remains to be seen. But it is clear that Gbagbo would probably want a political pact that would protect him and his cronies from being prosecuted. And exile in an African country also cannot be ruled out.

This new developing comes after the UN and the French forces intervened and reportedly launched an air strike (an intervention the African Union condemns as foreign meddling in Africa’s internal affairs) on Gbagbo’s residence and key military garrisons in Abidjan. The UN insists that it intervened to protect civilians.

Meanwhile the UN has confirmed another massacre of 200 more people, blamed on both sides. The news of Gbagbo’s surrender seems not to have reached ordinary citizens yet as a wave of women and children keep crossing into Liberia.

 

Author

Ndumba J. Kamwanyah

Ndumba Jonnah Kamwanyah, a native of Namibia in Southern Africa, is an independent consultant providing trusted advice and capacity building through training, research, and social impact analysis to customers around the world. Mos recently Ndumba returned from a consulting assignment in Liberia in support of the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL).
In his recent previous life Ndumba taught (as an Adjunct Professor) traditional justice and indigenous African political institutions in sub-Saharan Africa at the Rhode Island College-Anthropology Department.

He is very passionate about democracy development and peace-building, and considers himself as a street researcher interested in the politics of everyday life.
Twitter: NdumbaKamwanyah