President Atta Mills’ stance on the crisis in Ivory Coast has been given a major boost by the Africa Group of the United Nations Security Council.
The Group has ruled out military option in Cote D’Ivoire as a solution to the stalemate, stating that Ghana’s position is appropriate.
African members of the Security Council made up of Gabon, Nigeria and South Africa, called for a briefing at a monthly consultation meeting of the Africa Group of Ambassadors on the 13th of January.
At the said meeting, a three point resolution was reached including concerns about the evolving refugee situation in Ivory Coast, recognition of Mr. Alassane Ouattara as winner of the elections, and finally a ruling against the use of military force.
These were contained in a communication from Ghana’s Head of Mission in New York, Ambassador Leslie Christian, to Ghana’s Foreign Affairs Minister Mohammed Mumuni.
Mr. Mumuni explained to Citi News that the position expressed did not represent the entire Security Council but rather the Africa Group on the Security Council.
“This position is not really the position of the Security Council. It is the position of the African Group in the Security Council. The Africa Group is made up of South Africa, Nigeria and Gabon. Of course it also affirms the sanctity of Alassane Ouattara’s victory which it thinks it is not negotiable. This communication is very important and it is actually indicating the way forward in resolving the Cote D’Ivoire crisis.
“It is in fact affirming that a military option is no option at all. In other words, in defining a formula for resolving the Ivorian crisis, no resolve should be made to military intervention. That is very important because President Mills has been urging that if there is going to be a military intervention at all, it should be the very last resort”.
“Now this communication is in fact ruling out military intervention all together and that is very significant. It is also saying that the United Nations (UN) should be neutral in all of this” he explained.
Meanwhile the Executive Director of the Danquah Institute, Gabby Asare Otchere Darko, says the source and content of the communication must be interrogated to prove its authenticity or otherwise, particularly when it was coming from Ghana’s Ambassador to the UN.
“What I know is that, Africa’s position is really reflected by the AU and ECOWAS so I think it is important that we understand what the African position is. And clearly, we also need to be abreast with what happened at the Security Council because I am not that convinced that we can have an African position which is different from the AU position. What we have is a communication from Ghana’s Ambassador to the UN stating what happened there and I think we should investigate it further” he said.
The Foreign Affairs Minister said Mr. Otchere Darko was only restating the immovable stance that the NPP has taken in the matter.