PANAPRESS
Panafrican News Agency
ECOWAS to hold extraordinary summit on Ivorian crisis
Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) – Leaders of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) will hold an extraordinary summit in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, on Tuesday, 7 December, to discuss the worsening political situation in Cote d'Ivoire that is threatening to push it back into conflict.
The Chairman of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State, Nigerian President Goolduck Jonathan, and ECOWAS Commission President James Victor Gbeho had been consulting with leaders in the sub-region on the crisis who agreed the meeting and the date.
Cote d'Ivoire has been risking another conflict as incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo is set to be sworn in on Saturday afternoon for another term and opposition leader Alassane Ouattara has also claimed victory in the disputed 28 November run-off polls.
Ivorian Prime Minister, Guillaume Soro, has warned that the situation "threatens the ideal of reunifying the country". He is reported to have resigned as the investiture of President Gbagbo is set to go ahead, despite a chorus of international condemnation of Gbagbo's stand.
The West African state was on Friday plunged deep into confusion and uncertainty as the Constitutional Council “quashed” the victory of Ouattara in the polls and declared President Gbagbo the winner.
In a dramatic 24 hours, the world's biggest cocoa producer, which saw a full blown civil war from 2002, with the country being divided into two after rebels took control of the northern half, has seen two presidents declared by two bodies.
The president of the Independent Electoral Commission (CEI), Youssouf Bakayoko, under tight security in a hotel in Abidjan, on Thursday declared veteran politician and economist Ouattara winner of the ballot with 54.1 per cent of the votes.
But the Constitutional Council, which validates election results, on Friday overturned the Electoral Commission's declaration saying it has annulled results in several key areas in Ouattara's northern stronghold and declared President Gbagbo the winner with 51.45 per cent of the vote.
Paul Yao N'Dre, chairman of the Constitutional Council and a Gbagbo ally, said the irregularities in those northern constituencies invalidated the results.
However, the UN Mission in Cote d'Ivoire does not agree with N'Dre.
Y.J. Choi, the UN Special Representative in Cote d'Ivoire, said after validating results from all 20,000 polling stations, it had found that Ouattara was the winner.
He said even if President Gbabgo's complaints were upheld, Ouattara was still the winner.
He said they went to the source of the vote analysed all 20,000 tally sheets and verified them one-by-one by several methods, with all pointing to victory to Ouattara.
“...I have one single conviction - by all accounts there is one winner, Alassane Ouatara.”
And in an overnight development, state television said President Gbagbo,who has been in power for 10 years and has the backing of the military and gendermarie, would be sworn in at noon (GMT) on Saturday.
This has attracted a sharp response from Ouattara who has also claimed victory and his camp is warning that the attitude of President Gbagbo is recipe for chaos and conflict.
The confusion puts Cote d'Ivoire into direct confrontation with the United Nations and international community which have pumped a lot of human and material resources to reconcile the country and see the election as the final point of that roadmap. Some US$400 million has been spent on the electoral process.
The Ivorian authorities have warned the UN Special Representative about his pronouncements and threatened to throw him out.
The authorities say the UN has no right to declare a winner in election, pointing out that in Cote d'Ivoire, there is only one body that declares election results - the Constitutional Council – and this has declared President Gbagbo the winner.
The African Union and Economic community of West African States (ECOWAS) have appealed to restraint from all sides.
President Jonathan on Friday expressed “grave concern” about the situation and called on all parties to fully implement the verdict of the Ivorian people.
In a statement, President Jonathan said ECOWAS and the international community were waiting for all stakeholders, “particularly the government of the day”, to demonstrate the necessary statesmanship to respect the will of the people as declared by the Independent Electoral Commission.
He also called on the two presidential candidates, Ouattara and Gbagbo, to urge their supporters to be calm and refrain from actions that would roll back the advances made in the democratic process.
The military on Thursday sealed the country's land, sea and air borders until further notice and clamped down on the media.
International news channels of Canal+ were suspended on Thursday evening by the Ivorian authorities who accused them of publishing the results of the second round of presidential elections.
In a statement released on Thursday night on national television, the authorities asked officials of the pay channel Canal + Horizon to suspend radio and television broadcasting in Cote d'Ivoire from the French TV channel package.
Tension continues to rise as angry supporters of Ouattara are buring tyres in the streets of Abidjan while supporters of Gbagbo are celebrating.
-0- PANA MA 4Dec2010
The Chairman of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State, Nigerian President Goolduck Jonathan, and ECOWAS Commission President James Victor Gbeho had been consulting with leaders in the sub-region on the crisis who agreed the meeting and the date.
Cote d'Ivoire has been risking another conflict as incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo is set to be sworn in on Saturday afternoon for another term and opposition leader Alassane Ouattara has also claimed victory in the disputed 28 November run-off polls.
Ivorian Prime Minister, Guillaume Soro, has warned that the situation "threatens the ideal of reunifying the country". He is reported to have resigned as the investiture of President Gbagbo is set to go ahead, despite a chorus of international condemnation of Gbagbo's stand.
The West African state was on Friday plunged deep into confusion and uncertainty as the Constitutional Council “quashed” the victory of Ouattara in the polls and declared President Gbagbo the winner.
In a dramatic 24 hours, the world's biggest cocoa producer, which saw a full blown civil war from 2002, with the country being divided into two after rebels took control of the northern half, has seen two presidents declared by two bodies.
The president of the Independent Electoral Commission (CEI), Youssouf Bakayoko, under tight security in a hotel in Abidjan, on Thursday declared veteran politician and economist Ouattara winner of the ballot with 54.1 per cent of the votes.
But the Constitutional Council, which validates election results, on Friday overturned the Electoral Commission's declaration saying it has annulled results in several key areas in Ouattara's northern stronghold and declared President Gbagbo the winner with 51.45 per cent of the vote.
Paul Yao N'Dre, chairman of the Constitutional Council and a Gbagbo ally, said the irregularities in those northern constituencies invalidated the results.
However, the UN Mission in Cote d'Ivoire does not agree with N'Dre.
Y.J. Choi, the UN Special Representative in Cote d'Ivoire, said after validating results from all 20,000 polling stations, it had found that Ouattara was the winner.
He said even if President Gbabgo's complaints were upheld, Ouattara was still the winner.
He said they went to the source of the vote analysed all 20,000 tally sheets and verified them one-by-one by several methods, with all pointing to victory to Ouattara.
“...I have one single conviction - by all accounts there is one winner, Alassane Ouatara.”
And in an overnight development, state television said President Gbagbo,who has been in power for 10 years and has the backing of the military and gendermarie, would be sworn in at noon (GMT) on Saturday.
This has attracted a sharp response from Ouattara who has also claimed victory and his camp is warning that the attitude of President Gbagbo is recipe for chaos and conflict.
The confusion puts Cote d'Ivoire into direct confrontation with the United Nations and international community which have pumped a lot of human and material resources to reconcile the country and see the election as the final point of that roadmap. Some US$400 million has been spent on the electoral process.
The Ivorian authorities have warned the UN Special Representative about his pronouncements and threatened to throw him out.
The authorities say the UN has no right to declare a winner in election, pointing out that in Cote d'Ivoire, there is only one body that declares election results - the Constitutional Council – and this has declared President Gbagbo the winner.
The African Union and Economic community of West African States (ECOWAS) have appealed to restraint from all sides.
President Jonathan on Friday expressed “grave concern” about the situation and called on all parties to fully implement the verdict of the Ivorian people.
In a statement, President Jonathan said ECOWAS and the international community were waiting for all stakeholders, “particularly the government of the day”, to demonstrate the necessary statesmanship to respect the will of the people as declared by the Independent Electoral Commission.
He also called on the two presidential candidates, Ouattara and Gbagbo, to urge their supporters to be calm and refrain from actions that would roll back the advances made in the democratic process.
The military on Thursday sealed the country's land, sea and air borders until further notice and clamped down on the media.
International news channels of Canal+ were suspended on Thursday evening by the Ivorian authorities who accused them of publishing the results of the second round of presidential elections.
In a statement released on Thursday night on national television, the authorities asked officials of the pay channel Canal + Horizon to suspend radio and television broadcasting in Cote d'Ivoire from the French TV channel package.
Tension continues to rise as angry supporters of Ouattara are buring tyres in the streets of Abidjan while supporters of Gbagbo are celebrating.
-0- PANA MA 4Dec2010
