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13.10.2011 General News

Ex-Ivorian minister pleads for Gbagbo's release

By Phyllis D. Osabutey - Ghanaian Chronicle
Dr. Adou, Chairman and Spokesperson for the Ivorian Popular Front FPI Bureau in exileleft, Ivorian President Alassane OuattarrarightDr. Adou, Chairman and Spokesperson for the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) Bureau in exile(left), Ivorian President Alassane Ouattarra(right)
13.10.2011 LISTEN

A Former Defence Minister in the Laurent Gbagbo administration, Dr. Assoa Adou, has called for the release of his former boss in the interest of peace, and for true dialogue to take place between President Allasane Ouatarra and Laurent Gbagbo.

According to him, the solution to the Ivorian crisis that would ensure permanent peace requires 'As an immediate pre-requisite, the liberation of President Laurent Gbagbo and all political prisoners, civilian and military, in order to start among Ivorians a high level discussion with Mr. Ouattara.'

He lamented that President Gbagbo was now being held in captive in Korhogo in humiliating conditions unsuited for his dignity as a president, and was being treated like a common criminal. Dr. Adou, who is also the Chairman and Spokesperson for the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) Bureau in exile, said they had learnt that as a result of actions taken by the French and Ivorian authorities at the International Criminal Court (ICC), proceedings were underway for the transfer of President Gbagbo to the ICC.

Speaking at a press conference at the Freedom Center in Accra on Tuesday, he described this as an act of supreme humiliation, and blamed the French for the crisis in Cote d'Ivoire, saying, 'The rebel forces, with French backing, started a war which ended on April 11, 2011, with the arrest of President Laurent Gbagbo by French Special Forces who handed him over to the rebels.'

He said the Ivorian crisis was started by a failed coup attempt, which turned into a French-planned and backed rebellion, and not on September 28, 2010, as the outside world was made to believe.

Hence, the 2010 election was supposed to end the serious and lasting crisis, but unfortunately, made it worse, and has since left it pending, he noted.

According to him, 'The refusal to accept the results as declared by the Constitutional Council created an electoral dispute, which was neither settled by votes recount as recommended by President Laurent Gbagbo, nor by the negotiated political solution suggested by the African Union and accepted by Gbagbo.'

Also, he alleged that during the battle, pro-Ouattara forces perpetrated ethnic and political massacres, especially, the genocide of the WÈ people in the west of Cote d'Ivoire, while some youngsters were also systematically executed in Yopougon and Adjamè.

He added that since April 11, 2011, the killing, looting, theft, and occupation of farms and homes by rebels and DOZOS, now called F.R.C.I, were ongoing, and remain the cause for the forced internal and external exile of two million Ivorians.

'Transferring President Laurent Gbagbo to the International Criminal Court, while notorious criminals are roaming free and unafraid, is to put peace permanently in jeopardy in Cote d'Ivoire.'

He stated that the thousands of refugees that the FPI represent refuse the use of force to impose a solution on one camp, stressing, 'We refuse the wrongful use of national and international justice systems to keep out of the Ivorian political landscape, political adversaries.'

Furthermore, he expressed belief in the African initiatives for peace in Cote d'Ivoire, saying, 'On our part, we are expecting sincere African initiatives that will work towards peace in Cote d'Ivoire, by the release of President Laurent Gbagbo from the bonds of captivity, so a direct dialogue may be started between him and Gbagbo.'

Dr. Adou extolled Laurent Gbagbo as a man of peace, who took a decision that made it possible for Mr. Ouattara and Mr. Konan Bedie to return home from exile for the purpose of an inclusive national reconciliation forum in 2000.

Also, it was President Gbagbo's peaceful nature that made him enact an amnesty law for all the rebels who attacked him in September 2002, and further signed a political agreement of Ouagadougou, with the rebel forces occupying the northern half of the country from 2002 till present.

As to whether he and members of the FPI were willing to heed the call of President Ouattara to go back home, he answered in the negative, because to him, peace was not just a matter of talk, but an act, which the former has not demonstrated.

He recounted instances where people who had encouraged them to come home were now either killed or languishing in jail, adding, 'I will want to go home, despite the hospitality I am enjoying here in Ghana, because there is no place like home, but I don't want to be killed.'

He emphasised that the release of Gbagbo would bring peace, and warned that 'Keeping him in jail will be plunging Cote d'Ivoire into permanent chaos.'

He expressed the gratitude of the Ivorian refugees in Ghana to the people of Ghana and His Excellency President Evans Atta Mills for the hospitality and ceaseless solicitude manifested towards them since their arrival in the country.

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