A renowned international journalist Kweku Sakyi-Addo has suggested to member states of the Africa Union to revoke any diplomatic ties with envoys appointed by Laurent Gbagbo of the Ivory Coast.
International bodies like the United Nations, Africa Union and ECOWAS, as well as the world’s powerful nations like the USA and France recognize Alassane Ouattara as the presidential election winner. But Mr Laurent Gbagbo is unperturbed and has refused to step down.
Mr Sakyi-Addo told host of Joy FM’s Super Morning Show on Thursday it would not make sense for the countries not to recognize Mr Gbagbo as the president of Ivory Coast, and yet recognize his envoys.
“If you recognize Ouattara as the president-elect, then of course, you cannot recognize Gbagbo’s envoys. Basically power and authority is notional, if nobody recognizes you as the president, you are not the president.”
He said after the endorsement of Mr Ouattara as the president-elect by finance ministers of the International Bank of West Africa, Mr Gbagbo would no longer have access to the country’s funds there.
“By the middle of next month when public transportation, the ministries and public institutions who have fleets of vehicles cannot be fueled, and at the end of January when workers are broke from all the Christmas expenditure, and they cannot be paid, they will turn against him,” he predicted.
Not only the civil servants would revolt against Mr Gbagbo, but the military that is presumed to support Gbagbo, he opined.
He noted that, such leaders are usually supported by the service commanders who are loyal, but same cannot be said of their deputies and those beneath them.
“[The soldiers] are not going to lay down their lives for Gbagbo especially when the tank is dry and he cannot pay them, they will answer to the new commander, they will answer to reality, they won’t lay down their lives.”
Kwaku Sakyi-Addo supported calls for negotiations to convince Gbagbo to step down, adding that using force to oust Gbagbo would further aggravate the situation there.
Already, the UN has some 9,500 peacekeepers in the country.
Mr Gbagbo has told them to leave, accusing them of interfering in Ivorian affairs. But the UN has refused to do so.
The BBC reports that almost 20,000 people – mostly women and children – have fled Ivory Coast for neighbouring Liberia, fearing further unrest.
Mr Ouattara was initially declared the winner of the elections by the Electoral Commission but his victory was overturned by the Constitutional Council.
The Council, led by an ally of Mr Gbago, ruled that votes in parts of the rebel New Forces-held north loyal to Mr Ouattara were invalid.
Story by Isaac Essel