Adeola Aderounmu
Again, Ivory Coast is singing the war tunes. When will Africa be tired of this rubbish?
Alassane Ouattara was declared the winner of the election by the Electoral Commission. But now Laurent Gbagbo has been declared the winner by the Constitutional Council after some polls from the North of the country were cancelled.
Like several countries in Africa, Ivory Coast is divided along ethnic lines and there is discrimination (or racism in Ivory Coast). I am at a lost how and why Africans discriminate themselves. South and North of Ivory coast see one another as different and unequal.
This ethnicity problem is one of the greatest problems facing Africans. From Sudan to Nigeria, from South Africa to Ivory Coast, From Rwanda to Uganda and so on, Africans see themselves as people of different races. It’s amazing and the issue begs for the re-examination of the intelligence of the African race.
Fight for power is one thing, the attitude that one group of people have the sole right to power is another. Indeed there are allegations that this is partly due to colonialism. But what has happened to independent reasoning, deliberations and cognitive abilities of the African man since the end of colonisation. Oh, please don’t blame this one on neo-colonialism or some form of imperialism.
Africans should stop complaining. They should sit down face to face and talk sense.
The boiling point that is about to be reached in Ivory Coast is the last thing that we need now in Africa. The country has now shut down its media communication with the rest of the world. That’s a preparation for a show down that we don’t need.
Today Ivory Coast has two presidents. Tomorrow war may break out. These two presidents need to sit down and talk things out. The Electoral Commission and Constitutional Council should get involved in a joint meeting and sort out the anomalies. Votes from the north cannot be cancelled simply because Alassane Ouattarais from the North. That will amount to injustice and a recipe for war.
Alassane Ouattara, irrespective of how this dilemma ends should in the days ahead try to ensure that he uses his position to disarm the rebels in the North. If a country has rebel, the likelihood of war remains constant. Alassane Ouattara should not be seen as a rebel leader but a presidential candidate or a president if he won.
Or how on earth does he want to be a good president if he represents a rebel group and enjoy a stronghold in one part of the country and a dishonourable position in the other parts.
Ivory Coast and Ivorians must do all they can to keep the peace, spread it and enjoy their economic prosperity. Again they cannot rely on foreign governments for peace. Africa must always be told that her destiny has always been in her hands all the time. Creating pandemonium and begging for assistance or inputs from abroad will continue to escalate the woes on the continent.
Mbeki is now on ground but this will not be about him or the talks that may hit the rock. The issues are concrete: electoral processes and democratic institutions in Africa need to have sound foundations. It also involves a form of education that creates the sense of oneness among the citizens that share a common boundary. Where common boundaries are loosely defined the issue of immigration needs to be adequately polished to remove conflicts and confusions.
The future of Ivory Coast and Africa will continue to depend on the type of leadership that we get. It will also invariably depend on the followership.
Alassane Ouattara and Laurent Gbabgo can be sure of one thing, Ivory Coast will outlive them.
A View From The Scandinavian 
Well who didn’t expect this gridlock,in Africa once the incumbent is down there is always an electoral hold up. The problem is not Ouattara,it is Gbagbo who himself is an opportunistic beneficiary of an electoral upheaval years ago.He is not president because he won,that election blocked Ouattara from participating with all the flimsy excuses one can think about.And to me,Ouattara need not disarm rebels because the rebels are there because something is wrong in the political structure.Disarming them will not solve any problem,instead if the problem is solved ,they will disarm.Sometimes it is justified to be a rebel no matter what you are called because Gbagbo in taking power years ago only manipulated popular opinion because Robert Guei was out to what he just did.He wasn’t even the winner back then and that is why the rebellion broke out the first place.The rebels should sit tight and be ready to protect Ouattara,disarming them will mean no cover for Ouattara who is the actual winner.Let him not make the mistake Patrice Lumumba made some 60 years ago in the Congo and ended up being butchered by senseless tribalists of the Mobutu-Tshombe-CIA-Belgium gang. Since incumbents in Africa never respect the message form the ballot ,i don’t see anything wrong in using the bullet provided he himself will accept to leave when beaten.After all Kagame wouldn’t have saved the Tutsis and brought stability to the war stricken Rwanda if he wanted to wait only for the ballot.I do not see any benefit on Mbekis trip because the battle lines are drawn.Allez Alasane!!!!! Tout le monde est deriere vous!!!!
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We keep proofing the other continents right that there is something wrong and inferior about African. How come we cannot organize simple elections without it leading to war and confusion? Why do we discriminate against ourselves over stupid things like North and South? Laurent Gbagbo ‘fought’ very hard for multi party participation in democracy in Ivory Coast. How come he is behaving badly because he is the incumbent president? Why is it so difficult for African leaders to concede defeat at elections?
Why do we prefer to create and engineer blood shed of our fellow citizens and turn around to beg western nations to help us keep the peace? What is wrong with Africa?
Are we so stupid and dull in Africa that we dont understand the meaning of the common good? Why does self interest always triumph in Africa? Every other part of the world – Asia, NA, SA, Australia can organize sensible and peaceful elections. In those climes, the incumbent does not have to win all the time. It is only in Africa that elections trigger blood bath and war. Dont tell me about Ghana and few Afican nations that have organized good elections recently. They are too few and far in between. Election times are always seasons of anxiety and fear in Africa. When are we going to stop being silly and childish?
Africans must wake up and stop creating opportunities that create impressions that we are less of a human being. We can only earn respect by accepting defeats honourably. We must not win all the time especially when we have not performed.
By the way, why do our politicians want political power at all cost? This is supposed to be public service? There is only one reason!!! It is an opportunity for self and corrupt enrichment. We are so pri-mordial in our greed; almost at the level of animals. When are we going to wean ourselves of this greed?
We love excuses in Africa. We always blame colonialism as our bane. How stupid. Wake up Africans and smell the coffee. Take your destiny in your hands and run.
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there is no peace in Africa, come on guys enough for war. The only one who benefited from this war is weapon sellers and big companies which want to take all your mining.
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@ jidat, i think i agree with you. They make big cash from those deadly weapons.
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we are the deposits of the western world evil politics , which their means of penetration is discoverinng natural resources and luring the north and the south of MOST war torn nations into dragging of wealth
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@Rev Connick King
When are we going to start taking responsibility for our actions? Are we fools and sensless that we cannot tell the western nations to go to hell and rot that we will not fight? Is it western nations that have asked President Gbagbo not to hand over power after spending 10years in office? Afterall, he lost in the elections. Even if they were, Gbagbo is an adult and why cannt he say no and step down gracefully? Why do we always blame others for our troubles? Why do we lack courage to look in the mirror? Why do we always leave in denial? It is heart breaking that Africans behave like fools. We are better than this and must start to take responsibilities.
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Jidat,
How come we are the only ones buying these weapons to destroy ourselves? Which other part of the world is behaving this badly except Africa? Shame on us. Why cannt we tell the arm dealers no? Why are the arm dealers not succeeding in other continents? Very sad
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theye is no any peace in africa cos some leaders are not good
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we are not amrobers we are to think how to build nation, africa is still under develop
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I cant wait till all nigerians are driven out of Ghana. I just cant wait. We want nigerians out.Take your evil money and get teh fck out. NOW. We dotn want you – we dont want your money which you obviosly stole – THIEFS AND MURDERERS. Blacklisted nation – trying to pollute our peaceful nation. I would rather have Ivorians than have Nigerians in my land any day.
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I didnt quite get the point this when I first read it. But when I checked it out a third time, it all became clear. Thanks for the thought. Definitely something to twirl in my mind.
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