{"id":22826,"date":"2011-04-19T23:29:18","date_gmt":"2011-04-20T03:29:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sierraexpressmedia.com\/?p=22826"},"modified":"2011-04-19T23:29:18","modified_gmt":"2011-04-20T03:29:18","slug":"end-game-in-cote-divoire-marks-a-new-beginning-interview-with-cote-divoires-un-ambassador-youssoufou-bamba","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/?p=22826","title":{"rendered":"End game in C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire marks a new beginning: Interview with C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire\u2019s UN Ambassador Youssoufou Bamba"},"content":{"rendered":"

The arrest of former C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire president Laurent Gbagbo on 11 April after a bloody weeklong battle in the heart of Abidjan has been greeted with jubilation by supporters of the internationally recognized president, Alassane Ouattara, and relief by the international community. Africa Renewal<\/em> spoke with the Ivorian ambassador to the UN, Youssoufou Bamba, a few days before the final battle. In this exclusive interview in his New York office, Ambassador Bamba affirmed his government\u2019s intention to bring Mr. Gbagbo to court, criticized the international community for inaction and called for an urgent international response to the country\u2019s humanitarian crisis.\u00a0 Youssoufou Bamba, C\u00f4te d’Ivoire’s Ambassador to the UN Photograph: UN Photo\/Mark Garten<\/em><\/p>\n

The ambassador\u2019s explanation for Mr. Gbagbo\u2019s surprisingly rapid retreat to a bunker under the presidential palace under fire from President Ouattara\u2019s military was short and direct: \u201cHis army has been defeated, his generals have surrendered and they are short of ammunition.\u201d And the reason the government agreed to a brief lull in the fighting to allow for surrender talks was equally succinct: \u201cWe don\u2019t want to see a slaughtering of people. They are Ivorians after all.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Mr. Bamba made it clear that, after killing hundreds of civilians and refusing many opportunities to leave office peacefully after Mr. Ouattara\u2019s victory in the November 2010 presidential election, Mr. Gbagbo would be held to account. \u201cHe will be treated as a prisoner, because he has been given the opportunity to leave and to have some, if you will, dignity\u2026. He has to take the full consequences of his stubbornness\u2026. He has too much crime on his hands. He will definitely face the International Criminal Court.\u201d<\/p>\n

French role defended<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The veteran diplomat, who has served as C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire\u2019s ambassador to Austria, the UK and the US at different times, dismissed charges of aggression by France, the former colonial power. Paris maintains a garrison in the commercial capital Abidjan and has substantial financial interests in the country. French and UN forces attacked Mr. Gbagbo\u2019s heavy weapons during the battle for Abidjan in order to protect civilians \u2014 actions permitted by UN Security Council Resolution 1975 on C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire. French armoured units were also involved in the fighting that led to Mr. Gbagbo\u2019s arrest. \u201cI don\u2019t want to play this hypocrisy stuff with the international media,\u201d Mr. Bamba scoffed in reference to press reports that French forces fought alongside pro-Ouattara troops. \u201cWe have to be clear \u2026 the French have intervened under Chapter Seven of the United Nations Charter and with consistent precision to Resolution 1975. That is what we should focus on and where the debate should be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mass killings reported<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Ambassador Bamba disputed reports of mass killings in the north and west of the country by the UN, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Catholic charity Caritas after those areas were taken by soldiers supporting Mr. Ouattara during the drive on Abidjan. \u201cReports of mass killing leave us very suspicious because the news has been stated by Caritas. We know Caritas is very manipulated by Mr. Gbagbo. Everybody knows there is a notorious clergyman behind that.\u2026 He is profoundly anti-Ouattara.\u201d If there were atrocities, he said, \u201cThe persons involved have nothing to do with the FRCI [Forces R\u00e9publicaines de C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire, the force fighting for Mr. Ouattara]. We are clear. We deny any involvement of the regular troops of the [FRCI] military.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ambassador Bamba conceded that reports of mass killings of civilians in the strategic town of Du\u00e9kou\u00e9 near the Liberian border had also come from the Red Cross and UN human rights officials and may have been committed by militias and other irregular forces allied with Mr. Ouattara, but outside official command. \u201cIf they have perpetrated some things we do not have to bear the responsibility of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

He did say that the government has dispatched a legal team to investigate the charges and report back within 15 days. \u201cPresident Ouattara wants to conduct his office under the rule of law. We do not want to tolerate any abuses, any offences. The perpetrators, if found guilty, will be brought to justice.\u201d The ambassador also promised full cooperation with international investigators, declaring, \u201cWe are open for international investigation. We want that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reconciliation \u2018a huge task\u2019<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The ambassador acknowledged that continuing regional and ethnic tensions between the predominantly Muslim and pro-Ouattara north and the largely Christian and pro-Gbagbo south are a major challenge. \u201cWe know the task is huge. Even with the fighting going on we have given clear instructions to our troops to protect civilians, to respect human rights and above all to treat humanely their brothers in arms [from Gbagbo\u2019s forces]. We are the same people.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the short term, the ambassador continued, reconciliation \u201cis sending messages of restraint and reason to our opponents to say, \u2018You have lost, just go in peace. You will be treated humanely according to the international law\u2026.\u2019 We have to, if you will, brainwash people in reverse because they have been brainwashed negatively. They have been manipulated by hate messages.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to spread the message of tolerance.\u2026 Everything should go through a court of law. Nobody is to take justice into their own hands\u2026. That is very difficult because they have the feeling of revenge. They have suffered massacres, slaughtering and abuses from the Gbagbo camp,\u201d the ambassador noted. \u201cBut we have spread the word for them to refrain from doing their vengeance.\u201d He also confirmed that the Ouattara government would also establish a truth and reconciliation commission to promote forgiveness.<\/p>\n

Inclusive and effective governance<\/strong><\/h4>\n

\u201cBut above all,\u201d Ambassador Bamba emphasized, \u201cthe government put in place will be an open government, an inclusive government with all political forces part of it, and with civil society\u2026. Everyone should be getting on board because the reconstruction task is huge. For this reason we are prepared to welcome in government elements from different parties. So the people of Mr. Gbagbo who are free from abuses, violations of human rights and economic crimes will be welcome\u2026. These elections have been a breakthrough. They have been very fair, free and inclusive elections. We cannot go backwards.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ambassador Bamba told Africa Renewal<\/em> that his government would pursue a policy of social inclusion as well \u2014 a sensitive matter in a country where tensions between \u201cindigenous\u201d Ivorians and migrants, fanned by xenophobic propaganda from Gbagbo-controlled media, have made nationality an explosive issue. \u201cYou have to understand that C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire has 21 million inhabitants, but I think a third are from neighbouring countries. So we have to move to citizenship rather than national origin, which is \u2026 something very racist.\u201d<\/p>\n

Land disputes, a source of violence among communities in the western part of the country, \u201cshould be addressed in light of reality today,\u201d the ambassador explained. \u201cImagine the young Burkinab\u00e8s who are there three or four generations. They were born in C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire and have nothing to do with Burkina Faso, but they are from the Burkina Faso culture. When the father buys land and dies it is quite normal that his son would inherit the land, but [under current law] it is not possible because the kid is not Ivorian\u2026. That\u2019s not justice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Appeal for aid<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Ambassador Bamba also appealed for greater humanitarian aid for the victims of the violence. Donor governments, he said, \u201chave to rally as much as they did in supporting democracy and the will of the people of C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire. The situation on the humanitarian front is very hard. People lack everything \u2014 water, sanitation, food, first aid. Displaced persons should return to their homes.\u2026 This should be addressed rapidly. That is why I take the opportunity of this interview to launch an appeal to the [international community] to come to C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire and bring some relief to the suffering of the people.\u201d<\/p>\n

The UN estimates that as many as 1 million Ivorians have fled the fighting in Abidjan alone, joining hundreds of thousands of others as refugees in neighbouring Liberia and other countries or in makeshift camps for the internally displaced. The flood of civilians has overwhelmed existing relief efforts and UN officials report that emergency funding appeals have found few listeners in donor countries.<\/p>\n

The ambassador, however, remained confident of continued international support. \u201cThere is no doubt they will respond. They will do it.\u201d In the meantime, he said, \u201cPresident Ouattara has launched an emergency plan of 45 bn CFA francs [about US$100 mn] to address their basic needs \u2014 water, heath and basic infrastructure and sanitation \u2014 to prevent epidemics from spreading. We have done this, but we also need support from the international community in addressing this very urgent problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

International community \u2018sort of\u2019 complicit<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The ambassador had one criticism of the international community, however. The scope of the suffering and destruction, he asserted, would have been lessened had the world acted sooner. \u201cIt is unfortunate that the international community does not know Mr. Gbagbo. They were dealing with him as if he were a normal statesman\u2026. But because the international community did not know Gbagbo, they have been sort of accomplices in these killings,\u201d by trying so long to negotiate his departure.<\/p>\n

Mr. Gbagbo\u2019s removal \u201cshould have happened long before,\u201d the ambassador concluded. \u201cIt would have saved many lives. Many people would have been living to celebrate the emergence of democracy in C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire\u2026. That is my message to the international community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Africa<\/em> Renewal, Credit: UN Photo\/Paulo Filgueiras<\/em><\/p>\n

Stay with Sierra Express Media, for your trusted place in news!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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