Opposition PM Says Military Strike Necessary to Remove Incumbent Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo
Alassane Ouattara (allwestafrica.com)
The Prime Minister of Alassane Ouattara, the president-elect of Ivory Coast, and the one recognized by the international community as the winner of the standoff in November 2010, reiterated his conviction that the incumbent president Laurent Gbagbo, who refuses to leave office, can only be removed by use of a targeted military strike.
Guillaume Soro, former PM of the country, said on Wednesday in Zambia that all forms of diplomatic negotiations have failed to achieve the purpose of convincing him to step down, and that it is time for a stronger approach on the matter.
Earlier in the day, Gbagbo had announced that his regime was taking control over the Ivorian branches of the West African central bank, in an attempt to retain power and financial support.
Violence in Ivory Coast (article.wn.com)
Gbagbo ordered Ivorian members of staff to answer to local officials and not to the bank representatives.
In turn, Ouattara ordered the branches to stay closed and threatened to prosecute anyone who obeyed Gbagbo.
This conflict, whose victims are the workers in the banks, who have little choice but to cooperate with Gbagbo and wait for the tide to turn in order to go to prison or worse, or not to heed to Gbagbo’s requests and be killed where they stand, is part of the economic sanctions imposed by the leaders of West Africa in their attempt to solve the problem with no bloodshed.
Last week, Ecowas decided that the central bank of West Africa would revoke Gbagbo’s right to take money out of the Ivorian branches, in an attempt to cut him off funds and have his troops desert him.
When the sanction worked partially because it was catching in the middle innocent people, who do not have much of a choice, the West African countries and the president-elect came with another idea: They asked the cocoa traders to refuse to import from Ivory Coast until the incumbent president was deposed.
Now, Ouattara reiterates that it is only by force that Gbagbo will be removed, after he refused all propositions made by Raila Odinga, Kenyan PM, who proposed him to leave power and go into exile.
