Newly appointed Prime Minister of Ivory Coast, Guillaume Soro has described his consultative talks with President Rupiah Banda on Tuesday, as fruitful.
And Mr Soro has suggested a military operation as the only possible option to compel Mr Gbagbo to relinquish power following failed dialogue.
Mr. Soro said he was in the country to brief Mr. Banda on the situation in Ivory Coast.
He said his visit was important especially that the country had played a key role in the liberation of many countries on the continent and had also helped to enhance democracy in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region and Africa as a whole.
Mr. Soro was speaking at a Press Conference at Lusaka’s Pamodzi Hotel yesterday.
He commended President Banda for his wide understanding of African affairs including the situation in Ivory Coast.
Without giving details of his meeting with Mr. Banda, Mr. Soro, who was flanked by Ivorian Minister for Planning and Development Toikessue Mabri, said his government was happy with President Banda’s advice on the matter.
He said it was gratifying to note that the Zambian President considered the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) as the best suited regional body to effectively deal with the crisis in Ivory Coast.
“We have been assured by the Zambian President that Zambia will closely follow the events in Cote D’Ivoire and that he will follow the decision of the African Union as one of the priorities,” said Mr. Soro.
President Banda is the current Chairperson of the International Conference of the Great Lakes Region and the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security.
Meanwhile, Mr. Soro, who also served in the embattled Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo’s government, in the same capacity, has appealed to other African leaders to support the democratic process in that country.
He said like in many other countries, the people of Ivory Coast are thirsty for a democratically elected government and wanted to equally enjoy the peace and freedoms their brothers and sisters were enjoying in these countries.
Mr. Soro said it was regrettable that some African leaders in North Africa and the SADC region did not seem to support the idea of forcing Mr. Gbagbo to step down and give way power to Mr. Alassane Ouattara who the international community had recognised as the legitimately elected leader of Ivory Coast.
He said Ivorians would not allow Mr. Gbagbo to continue clinging onto power because since the confusion erupted about 300 civilians have died while 30,000 others have fled the country for safety.
Mr. Soro said President Ouattara’s government would not relent until Mr. Gbagbo accepts defeat and relinquish power to the democratically elected government.
“We are not prepared to see any more innocent civilians die and our people run to other countries because of one person. We will use all possible means including a targeted military operation to force this dictator to give up power,” he stressed.
He said as the situation stands in that country, a military operation targeted at Mr. Gbagbo and his soldiers was the only possible option considering that attempts to initiate dialogue between the two parties have failed.
And Mr. Soro has appealed to the African Union not to recognise Mr. Gbagbo’s delegation to the forthcoming summit in Ethiopia.
He said the delegation was illegal because it was not representing the legitimate government of Ivory Coast.
Mr. Soro said Mr. Ouattara’s government would assemble a delegation to represent the country.
“AU should chase the delegation for Mr. Gbagbo and should not entertain them. We have our own delegation that will be travelling to Addis Ababa,” appealed Mr. Soro.
Alassane Ouattara, the internationally recognised winner of last year’s Presidential elections is locked in a power struggle with Laurent Gbagbo, who has ruled the world top cocoa grower for 10 years.
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Well spoken Mr. Guillaume Soro. I hope Vasco Da Banda, will easily step down once he loses this year’s elections. Though Kanitundila appears like someone who will behave like Gbagbo, the loser.
THE UN DEFRAUDS ELECTION : AFGHAN AND IVORY COAST ELECTION LESSONS
Galbraith, the U.S. Special Representative to Afghanistan, was announced as the next United Nations’ Deputy Special Representative for Afghanistan on March 25, 2009 but abruptly left the country in mid September 2009 at the request of UN Special Representative to Afghanistan Kai Eide following a dispute over the handling of the reported fraud in the 2009 Afghan presidential election – and on September 30, the UN announced that he had been removed from his position by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
The United Nations fired Mr. Galbraith, its No. 2 official in Afghanistan, in September 2009 after he wrote a scathing letter accusing the head of the mission of concealing election fraud that benefited the campaign of the…
Google search about the official statement of African Union headed by former Togolese Prime Minister Koffigoh.
In Ivory coast, The Chairman of the electoral commission only in complicity with the UN representative in Ivory Coast Mr CHOI, a south Korean citizen gave false results in Ouattara HQ. This chairman has been driven by the US ambassador to Ouatara HQ to announce the winner. If really Ouattara distance of 500,000 votes out of 5 millions voters ,why they (UN, Ouattara, Obama, Sarkosy) refuse to recount in live before all TV channel in the world? .I repeat, UN, Ouattara, Gbagbo have the same 20,000 election minutes. In the north of Ivory Coast under rebel control more than 2,200 polling centers have more voters than registered, a turnout of 400%, unheard of. Many votes were…
Many votes were counted than were cast. Moreover in over 500 polling stations Gbagbo is left with no votes when he is supposed to have at least two representatives in office votes who are entitled to vote . Do not trust the UN.
Go to the website thefrontiertelegraphdotcom
But really i dont see any difference between that Gbagbo and RB, both show serious signs of not only power hungry but lunacy itself. Am sure these chaps can agree to kiss ma a.s.s just to get my vote.