We have answers to all the questions asked.
Let us not forget that Gbagbo unlawfully remained president of Cote d’Ivoire for five years after his lawful term as president was over. He was virtually forced by the UN and regional powers to allow a presidential election.
It was Cote d’Ivoire’s choice to adopt Western style democracy (actually the French Model). That country’s constitution is modeled after France’s constitution. Gbagbo was elected president based on the model. As president, he did not change the model but delayed another presidential election for as long as he could get away with it. The election was finally held and there is near consensus that he lost.
Gbagbo was opposition leader for many years. He eventually was elected president. He should know better than many that if he, left office after he was lawfully declared to have lost a presidential election, he could run again and emerge the winner so long as presidential elections in his country were generally free and fair. Gbagbo seemed to know better than many that even if future presidential elections in his country were free and fair, that he could not win. He was therefore unwilling to take that chance. He selfishly, chose to make his stand at a great and avoidable cost to his fellow citizens and country.
I am not able to see much that African culture has to do the outcome of a western style democratic, presidential election which both Gbagbo and Ouattara freely and willingly submitted themselves to and participated in as candidates. Elections produce winners and losers. Elections are not much use if candidates will not respect election results. Sadly, the refusal by one or more candidates to accept the result of an election, even when the election result is disputed by one or more candidates can serious destabilize a country and set it back. Gbagbo, as a former professor of history must be presumed to know this. Gbagbo had ample opportunities to be one of Cote d’Ivoire’s greatest statesmen. He was not man enough to take one of them. He willfully let the opportunity slide.
oa
From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com [mailto:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of OLADMEJI ABORISADE
Sent: Tuesday, April 12, 2011 8:49 PM
To: USAAfricaDialogue
Subject: RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Gbagbo captured
This subject is very interesting but we need information on:1 Who declared Gbagbo the winner? and 2, Who declared Quattara the winner?. 3, What is the Role of the UN in declaring the Election Results of a Country?. If Gbagbo is captured, it looks as if the battle for Leadership is only beginning since the country is already divided by the election result. My suggestion is that we forget that any election ever took place and start afresh like the case of Nigeria in 1993. Apponit who will lead but not Quattara as Care Taker to organize another election in which neither Gbagbo nor Quattara should be candidates. For many years from now, Gbagbo will continue to have audience. This same principle of resolving a family affair can be applied to Libya. Let us realize that our African political problems came from different sources and Colonial experience cannot be ignored but African Culture must be respected in solving African issues.
Thank you,
Oladimeji Aborisade.
From: AnunobyO@lincolnu.edu
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Date: Mon, 11 Apr 2011 13:32:39 -0500
Subject: RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Gbagbo captured
Gbagbo’s reported capture (if correct) is the last but one step of the presidential elections in Cote d”Ivoire. The final step is the proper swearing-in of Ouattara as president. Ouattara may find that tougher times are ahead for his country and himself.
Gbagbo may have lost the presidential election, and is now reportedly captured and in the custody of Ouattara’s forces. He, Gbagbo in defeat, may still have won depending of his goals and objectives as an insurgent. If he (Gbagbo) held out all this time to ensure that his country remains steep in crises regardless of what happened to him, he has won. All the signs are that Cote d’Ivoire will take a long time to heal from the divisions and fissions of the Gbagbo insurgency.
Ouattara task as president is clearly cut out for him. Reuniting all citizens and parts of his country must be his immediate and first priority. A government of National unity in Africa is oftentimes a ruse and may deepen and widen the divide. If he chose to form such a government, he must not be triumphalist. He must also ensure that his close associates and supporters are not. The Gbagbo people that he will be an neo-imperialist stooge. Ouattara must not help to actualize the allegations. He will need the support of France but need not and should not be at the expense of his country’s true and enduring interests. He must ensure that his administration is seen at all times to be working in the best interest of all Ivoriens and therefore on their side. He must serve his country as president to the best of his ability including faithfully, honestly, and lawfully. He must allow free and fair elections even when the outcome may mean his loss of power. History, as Gbagbo has helped to write it, must not repeat itself..
Gbagbo has done immeasurable damage and injustice to his country. He seemed to have set his heart to remain president or destroy his country if he was not. Gbagbo left Ouattara and his supporters, including much of the international community with no choice but to unseat him by force. He therefore must take primary responsibility for the death, destruction, misery, and suffering that his insurgency has brought to his once peaceful country. Violence and war tend to bring out the worst in people. There usually is no better opportunity for rightfully or wrongfully aggrieved people, to avenge past real and perceived wrongs and injustices and therefore settle old scores as in war. Gbagbo, as a former professor of history, cannot be oblivious to what violence and war does to people’s minds and therefore their behavior and actions. He chose to travel as he did. Gbagbo’s life may turn out to be a comical but wasteful tragedy.
Is Gbagbo a political prisoner? Does Gbagbo deserve mercy now that he is a captive? The laws of his country and international law, should take their course. I wish him well.
oa
From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com [mailto:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Moses Ebe Ochonu
Sent: Monday, April 11, 2011 9:48 AM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Gbagbo captured
Good for Gbagbo. This could have all ended peacefully several months ago. That said, am I the only one who fear that, despite Gbagbo's capture by French special forces (they did the job and handed Gbagbo over to Ouattara's forces to erase the odor of French neocolonialism and the negative PR from the capture) or because of it, Ivory Coast will not know peace and stability in the near future? Many of Gbagbo's supporters are still armed, are fuming with rage, and have vowed never to accept Ouattara as a legitimate president. The 46 percent of the population that voted for Gbagbo may have been radicalized by the perceived French-UN-New Forces military gang up on Gbagbo and by the war crimes committed by Ouattara's forces. I am not sure this was an ideal solution. The final French (and UN) assault on Gbagbo's forces (they basically won the war for Ouattara) has further complicated matters. Other rulers in French-colonized Africa will take notice and move towards curtailing or outright revoking the military pacts that allow the French to maintain a military presence and to intervene in their countries. In the long term, I am not sure that this template is a good instrument for democratic reclamation on the continent. Shooting your way to power with French and UN military support and firepower support and committing genocidal war crimes along the way even if you've won an election saddles you with a bitterly divided, infrastructure-impoverished, and tumultuous country. It also undermines your legitimacy. Ouattara's ascendance in the last few weeks have looked more like a coup than a democratic transition. The visuals and perceptions are not good and have helped to deepen the divisions and animosities in Ivorian society. Even as we insist rightly that African rulers who signed up for the winner-takes-all electoral model should abide by its rules when they lose, we should acknowledge the human, economic, and societal toll of this model. It is destroying many African countries. In the long run, therefore, we must rethink this model and move towards a more inclusive, consensus-building, and less zero-sum models of democracy.
On Mon, Apr 11, 2011 at 9:02 AM, Emeagwali, Gloria (History) <emeagwali@mail.ccsu.edu> wrote:
The Associated Press
Date: Monday Apr. 11, 2011 9:50 AM ET
ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast — The French Embassy in Ivory Coast says strongman Laurent Gbagbo has been captured by forces of democratically elected leader Alassane Ouattara. The move came after an attack by French forces earlier Monday.
An embassy official confirmed the detention by phone to an Associated Press reporter in Paris, speaking on condition of anonymity because of government policy.
Dr. Gloria Emeagwali
Prof. of History & African Studies
History Department
Central Connecticut State University
New Britain
CT 06050
www.africahistory.net<http://www.africahistory.net/>
www.esnips.com/web/GloriaEmeagwali<http://www.esnips.com/web/GloriaEmeagwali>
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