Godwin The questions which I would like somebody to answer are: 1) Why have the US and European Union kept on stressing the conduct of elections at regular intervals, every four years, in sub-sahara Afrivan countries but they were silent when heads of governments in Tunisia, Egypt, Algeria and other maghreb countries ruled for more than twenty years unchallenged? 2) Why is the western model of democracy imposed on sub-sahara African countries especially as conditionality for IMF and World Bank 'assistance' but it is not recommended for Arab countries? 3) If Gbagbo remains intransigent which authority has the final say on whether Cote D'Ivoire should be invaded by foreign military forces and who pays for the operation?
Prof Felicia A. D. Oyekanmi
Department of Sociology
University of Lagos
Akoka, Yaba,
Lagos Nigeria
Tel: {234} 1 7941757
Cell: {234}8056560970
--- On Fri, 4/2/11, Godwin Okeke <sol10ng@yahoo.com> wrote:
From: Godwin Okeke <sol10ng@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - War Criminal And Pervert GbagboTells AU To Go To Hell
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Date: Friday, 4 February, 2011, 6:11
Beloved Bangura, Thanks for replying my mail. I was not going to reply but for some issues you raised and the researches conducted in the study area. I have also gone through your credentials posted on this forum (quite impressive). But I feel uncomfortable with your disposition to the present crisis in Cote D'Ivoire. Also I feel disturbed because I am inclined to believe that somehow you may have been participating in the battle, where your sense of judgement might have been beclouded by the dust of battle. More so, as a social scientist I do know that no research is totally value free. Please, mark my words, I do not in any way support Gbagbo's intransigence. My worry is how best the present impasse could be resolved without shedding innocent blood. Many countries have passed through similar and even worse experiences and yet the heavens did not fall. In my country, NIGERIA, you may not understand the enthnic configuration and the complex nature of her politics. The bottomline is that there is an axis of evil in every polity. Evil does exist, but no matter how we try to pontificate ex catedra, the solution(s) is always hydra-headed. I am also concerned about your call for the use of force (ECOMOG). I again understand you're from Sierra Leone. Those who have experienced war (like those of us, Igbos of Nigeria) and even you from Sierra Leone, SHOULD NOT recommend IT as a solution to any problem. Remember, to jaw jaw is beteer than to war war. We may never know the final outcome. Let us not be fooled by Laila Odinga who was prepared to take half measures in Kenya without resorting to the use of armed force, only to turn round to recommend that to ECOWAS. Look also the game France and the West are playing out in that country. My brother Bangura, a lot is at stake in Cote D'Ivoire and as I believe that you are on familiar grounds, you should know better!!! I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Remain blessed, Mmaduabuchi
From: Abdul Bangura <theai@earthlink.net>
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com; usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Sent: Thu, February 3, 2011 5:25:12 AM
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - War Criminal And Pervert GbagboTells AU To Go To Hell
Good Greetings Mwalimu Okeke: I thank you very much for your E-mail and its very respectful tone. They are truly appreciated. I must, however, be honest with you that I will not relent on Gbagbo until he is removed from power by any means necessary. As a public scholar and political activist, I am not shy about being quite passionate about major political issues in Afrika and its Diaspora. For ten years, I have conducted research, traveled throughout the country, given lectures and a Research Methodology workshop, and done development and peace work in Cote d'Ivoire. I have also written extensively on the crisis, and some of my essays on it have been published in books and refereed journals; a few other essays are in press. All these activities, plus my travels and work in neighboring countries, allowed me to learn a great deal about the tyranny of Gbagbo, his wife Simone and his henchmen in the country. I will use any medium available to highlight the evils that Gbagbo and his goons have heaped upon the people of Cote d'Ivoire, and will continue to work with organizations on the Motherland and the Diaspora to help unseat Gbagbo. A few days before the election, I was in Cote d'Ivoire. I recall a conversation I had with a friend in Abidjan. He had a premonition about what is unfolding in Cote d'Ivoire. I told him that after ten years of such hard work and progress, with the eyes of President Jimmy Carter and his team, President John Agyekum Kufuor and his team, head of EU observer mission Cristian Preda and his team, the UN observer team, and the ECOWAS observer team, things would proceed smoothly and the choice of the people of Cote d'Ivoire will be respected. My God, how wrong I was! The past many weeks have not been easy for me to engage in my professional work and still appear on national and international television and radio and write position statements on many media. But mine is an insignificant price compared to what the people in those mass graves in Cote d'Ivoire had to pay for freedom and Democracy and the price most Ivorians continue to pay because one man believes he is ordained by God to remain in power at all costs to the people. That is pure evil! In Peace Always, Abdul Karim Bangura/. ----- Original Message ----- Sent: 2/3/2011 7:07:55 AM Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - War Criminal And Pervert GbagboTells AU To Go To Hell
It's quite unfortunate when scholars start writing position papers on critical issues, one of which is represented by the crisis in Cote D'voire. Some of us have been reading you on the Ivorian crisis for quite some time now. Please, try and hear Gbagbo out, and I think you need to understand that the situation is much more complex than you think. More so, the ECOWAS Political Principle of 1991 does not recommend the use of force to unseat recalcitrant regimes, etc, etc. It borders also on the indigene/settler dichotomy (when does a settler become an indigene?) which abound everywhere, including Nigeria, etc,... See also the MERCOSUR example with the Wasmosy/Oviedo imbroglio in the Paraguay crisis of April 22, 1996, and how it was finally resolved, with the intervention of MERCOSUR/OAS; Kenyan/Zimbabwean crises. You may have to read up some literature on the Ivorian crisis and stop your vituperations on issues that need to be analyzed with emotional detachment and philosophical calmness. I will not go beyond this until this crisis is over. I do believe you may learn one or two things from your present position. Take care. G.S. Mmaduabuchi OKEKE, PhD Dept. of Pol. Sc. UniLag
From: Abdul Bangura <theai@earthlink.net>
To: "USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com" <USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com>
Cc: leonenet <leonenet@lists.umbc.edu>
Sent: Wed, February 2, 2011 5:48:05 AM
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - War Criminal And Pervert Gbagbo Tells AU To Go To Hell
I hope that the African (Dis)Union can finally get out of the way of ECOWAS to fulfill his mandate. Thank you, War Criminal and Pervert Gbagbo, for helping the AU see its folly. AU Mission in Ivory Coast Encounters Obstacles Scott Stearns | Dakar February 02, 2011 ![Ivory Coast Prime Minister, Guillaume Soro, attends a media conference at the Golf Hotel in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, January 30, 2011.]( "Ivory Coast Prime Minister, Guillaume Soro, attends a media conference at the Golf Hotel in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, January 30, 2011.") Photo: AP Ivory Coast Prime Minister, Guillaume Soro, attends a media conference at the Golf Hotel in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, January 30, 2011. The prime minister for the U.N.-certified winner of Ivory Coast's presidential election says African Union mediation is the last chance for a peaceful resolution of the political crisis. The incumbent government says it will not accept any mediation that challenges the president's re-election.
The African Union's latest effort to resolve the political crisis in Ivory Coast is having problems before it gets started.
Members of the heads-of-state panel differ over the possible use of force to remove incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo. Gbagbo supporters oppose the inclusion of the Burkina Faso president on the panel because he is an ally of Gbagbo's rival, Alassane Ouattara.
Gbagbo's foreign minister says his government will not accept any finding that questions the legitimacy of the constitutional council annulling nearly 10 percent of all ballots cast, which made Gbagbo the winner.
Ivory Coast's Electoral Commission and the United Nations say results shows Ouattara winning, even if most of the contested votes are thrown out.
Ouattara's prime minister, Guillaume Soro, says the African Union mission is the last chance for a peaceful resolution of the crisis.
Soro says the five heads of state will go to Ivory Coast to ask the elected president to explain the guarantees he will offer to the losing president. Soro says Ouattara has promised if Gbagbo agrees to leave power, Ouattara will accord him the status of a former president with all of its privileges.
Having served as Gbagbo's prime minister for more than three years, Soro told VOA that he does not expect the incumbent president will abide by the decision of the African Union, because the alliance already recognizes Ouattara.
"AU recognized Alassane Ouattara as the elected president of Cote d'Ivoire," he said. "And I think that it is a victory for democracy in Cote d'Ivoire. It is a victory of the people of Cote d'Ivoire."
Human Rights Watch says Gbagbo allies are killing and raping Ouattara supporters in post-election violence. The United Nations says peacekeepers are being blocked from suspected mass grave sites.
Soro says those responsible for that violence must be brought to justice.
"The struggle for freedom and the fight for democracy is not easy," he said. "In the history of our continent, the struggle for freedom generally generates crimes and killings and everything."
Both of Ivory Coast's competing governments went into the African Union summit hoping for decisive action against their rival. Instead, they got a panel of heads of state. Soro says he is not disappointed.
"No, no, no. I am not disappointed. I am a fighter," said Soro. "When you fight for democracy you can not be disappointed."
The leaders of Burkina Faso, Chad, Mauritania, South Africa, and Tanzania make up the African Union panel. They met Monday to outline their strategy and must now decide when to visit Abidjan and how to approach the country's rival presidents. --
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