Here, it's factual, that Constitutionalism has been thrown overboard
in Ivory Coast
http://str8talkchronicle.com/?p=11945
And here it's a little far fetched but not impossible that "Western
powers rigged the Ivory Coast elections":
Someone is certainly "jumping the gun" here.
Above all, the legitimacy of the election results has to be
established beyond any reasonable doubt before we can be reasonable
about who is the president of the Ivory Coast. In more advanced
democracies, by-elections are held in areas in which significant
election malpractice has been verified. The Supreme Court is also an
adjudicator in some instances – and it is not ingenious enough to say
that the president has packed the Court with his own men, therefore to
hell with the constitution, let's tear it up.
A good number of good people and a good number of African countries
including SOUTH AFRICA are still questioning the legitimacy of the
Election Results as declared, in view of the allegations of massive
fraud, especially in the North, the rebel-held stronghold of Ouattara.
Among other factors that contribute to the seriousness of the
allegations, is the fact that migrant tribesman allied to Mr.
Ouattara's ethnicity and religion have been pouring in from Burkina
Faso, in particular and other ethnic enclaves from other neighbouring
countries – registered as residents or not verified, and still casting
their ballots for Mr.Ouattara and then either melting back into the
night or to their states of origin, or staying on.
Since ethnicity has been politicized to an extraordinary extent (with
Ouattara himself being accused of being a Burkinabe) it's inevitable
that ethnicity-consciousness is now at the heart of the North – South
divide, even if "winner takes all" has to establish his authority
over the whole nation.
The voter registers are obviously not that reliable and this
difficulty can be compounded by other identification difficulties,
which can be a problem where there is mass illiteracy and especially
so in a country in which there are floating worker migrations, to
where work is to be found.
(India is now compiling a register of all her citizens who will be
issued with ID cards…over a billion of them. It's the kind of exercise
that is costly but necessary in our African countries, where we simply
have to ensure the reliability of the voter register. Here in Sweden
it took me less than 45 seconds to cast my ballots, after my identity
had been certified. The results of the elections were announced a few
hours later. This is possible in Sweden which is the world's most
computer/ digitalised country.)
Abdul K. Bangura who obviously concurs with the contents of Dr.
Sisay's article and tops it with his usual mantra that the Professor
president Gbagbo should be "removed" by " Legitimate force
immediately" must also realise ( if he hasn't) that the use of the
term " legitimate force" is merely begging the question. What does he
mean by "legitimate force"? How does he define the term? Was Thomas
Sankara
"removed" by "legitimate force"?
http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&=&q=Thomas+Sankara
Many Western nations were reluctant to recognise HAMAS' victory in the
2006 elections. Does Abdul Bangura believe that Fatah was using
"legitimate force" to exterminate Hamas in Gaza?
We can discuss the last presidential and parliamentary elections in
Sierra Leone, if he so desires, with a view to bringing up a number of
points that in my view would be of relevance to what we are about to
discuss here.
On Jan 27, 4:35 am, "Abdul Bangura" <th...@earthlink.net> wrote:
> African News
> The Ivory Coast stalemate
> Wednesday 26 January 2011
>
> Analysis
> By Dr. Hassan Sisay, Wisconsin, USA.
> In the book, Bargaining with the Devil: When to Negotiate and when to Fight, Chair of the Harvard Law School�s program on negotiation, Professor Robert H. Mnookin, raises an interesting argument on how to deal with seemingly stubborn individuals such as Ivory Coast�s former president Gbagbo, who after losing the recent presidential elections to Alassane Ouattara has refused to step down. So far, all attempts to peacefully resolve this matter have failed. The situation has been compounded by the conflicting messages emanating from some African presidents. Having initially threatened to unseat Gbagbo by force if he does not relinquish power to Ouattara, some African leaders are now publicly backsliding on the military option and instead embracing a multiplicity of other solutions. Meanwhile, Gbagbo has interpreted these conflicting moves and flip-flopping as a sign of weakness and indecision. Accordingly, despite repeated calls by the international community for him to step down and yield power to his political rival who according to published results had won the presidential elections, Gbagbo has refused to comply.
> The first of the African leaders to fall off the fighting wagon is Ghana�s president John Atta Mills, followed by Liberia�s Ellen Johnson � Sirleaf. Lately, Uganda�s President Yoweri Museveni is also reading from the same script. Mills and Johnson-Sirleaf support additional negotiations, while Museveni opposes recognition of Mr. Ouattara until a thorough investigation of the November elections is conducted. Kenya�s Prime Minister Raila Odinga, appointed by the African Union to help mediate the crisis, was recently in Pretoria to brief the South African leader Jacob Zuma on developments in the Ivory Coast. Zuma quickly reminded Odinga that the Ivory Coast problem belongs to ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States), whose members should decide what to do. Further Zuma squelched the military option by stating that, �we need to do something else to help the situation, rather than demand that one of the two leaders go away.� Translation, let us adopt the Kenyan and Zimbabwean power sharing solution to the Ivory Coast problem. Is power sharing now the new norm and strategy to thwart the evolution of democracy in Africa? Hopefully not. Power sharing must be rejected because it encourages �stubborn incumbents or electoral losers to negotiate their way to power��
> To muddy the waters further, Nigeria�s foreign minister Odein Ajumogobia, in a recent editorial carried in some Nigerian newspapers has added another requirement for the use of �legitimate force� in the Ivory Coast. Among other things, he has called for international support for ECOWAS�s planned actions, and specifically requested the enactment of an appropriate United Nations Security Council resolution to justify the impending military action.
> Meanwhile, as some African leaders are busy trying to reach a consensus on viable options, Gbagbo�s supporters have employed additional delaying tactics by filing a lawsuit against ECOWAS, claiming that the proposed use of force against their country was illegal. Gbagbo himself has also opened another new hostile front against ECOWAS�s military plans by unleashing his thugs to attack, harass, maim and kill civilian supporters of his political rival. Oblivious to concerns from the international community, and bent on further escalating the crisis, Gbagbo recently responded to the ECOWAS removal of his ally as governor of the Central Bank of West African States by forcibly closing all branches of the same bank in the Ivory Coast. Described as cunning, and sometimes ruthless, Gbagbo has realized that often the easiest way to solve an internal problem is to find an external enemy. Gbagbo has identified France and the United Nations, as his alleged enemies, and asked both to leave the Ivory Coast. At this point, Africa is running out of options as chaos escalates, and chances of mediating the standoff remains unsuccessful. What is the best next move -fight or negotiate?
> Perhaps it is time to adopt the Mnookin solution to problem solving and negotiations. If the use of force is deemed necessary to unseat Gbagbo, such a decision should be implemented quickly, fully, and without additional equivocation. If on the other hand, ECOWAS wishes to negotiate an agreement with Gbagbo, the following should be noted. That some negotiations �risk rewarding unworthy behavior.� As Mnookin stated �difficult people are difficult because they have been rewarded for being difficult.� That said, the most important outcome in any negotiations is getting an �agreement that is fair, workable, and approved by all the participants.� Mnookin warned that �if one party feels beaten, that party will not want to keep the agreement and will spend a great deal of energy to get out of fulfilling obligations the agreement imposes.� The above may be important in negotiating a final agreement with an individual such as Gbagbo.
>
> arton198-855c3.jpg
> 12KViewDownload
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