Re; Call for Action in Côte d’Ivoire
Mr. President,
On July 11 2009, in a memorable and inspirational speech before the Ghanaian Parliament in Accra, Ghana, you laid the grounds for what African nations needed to do to be the partners of America in building the capacity for transformational change. You underlined four critical criteria for the future of Africa: democracy, opportunity, health and the peaceful resolution of conflict. Throughout the continent young Africans listened carefully and took note. Right across the western border of Ghana, young men and women of Côte d’Ivoire heard your call with a touch of jealousy in their heart for not having their country included in your itinerary for your first official visit on the African continent.
We Ivoirians were fully aware of the challenge before us: we had to get started on the road to building a democratic system of representative government under the most difficult circumstances.
Emerging from an internal conflict that had left our country divided, we were still trying to organize the first free election in a decade. Mr. Laurent Gbagbo who came to power in a sham of an election in 2000 was using every repressive measure against the opposition as well as delaying maneuver of international agreement to remain in power beyond his 5 years term in a clear violation of the Constitution and the will of the Ivoirian people yearning for a truly representative government.
Finally last November, energized in great part by your call to young Africans to build strong and sustainable democratic governments, the Ivoirian people overcame their fears and uncertainties and they went to the polls in massive number to vote for their president. When the votes were counted by the Independent Election Commission as required by the election bylaws, the result came as follows: Mr. Alassane Ouattara 54.1%, Mr. Laurent Gbagbo 45.9%. the people of Côte d’Ivoire had spoken by electing Mr. Alassane Ouattara as the 5th president of the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire. The entire international community and more importantly the African countries through the African Union have welcomed the new president Alassane Ouattara.
Mr. President, what the Ivoirian people are facing today is the challenge of removing from power a defeated strongman in Laurent Gbagbo who refuses to abide by the election result by handing the reign of the government to the democratically elected President: Alassane Ouattara. A memorable line in your message to Africans was:” Africa doesn’t need strongmen, it needs strong institutions”. But what can an unarmed population do against a brutal dictator who has shown throughout his 10 years of reign an eagerness to kill innocent people to remain in power. Once again, a few days ago in December 14, 2010 former president Laurent Gbagbo ordered the army and his militia of mercenaries to shoot peaceful demonstrators as they tried to march toward the national TV and Radio station. As of today, the strongman Gbagbo stands in defiance of every pressure from the international community while members of the military and his militia of paid mercenaries from Liberia and Angola are using the cover of his curfew to engage in premeditate murders of innocent people whose only crime was to have cast their ballots for change.
Mr. President you stated in Accra that ”no person wants to live in a society where the rule of law gives way to the rule of brutality and bribery----that is no democracy, that is tyranny”. Dictators like Laurent Gbagbo have learned that they can commit murder and all kinds of violations of human rights with impunity. Please Mr. President fulfill your pledge that America will stand with those who initiate positive change. The Ivoirian people are demanding the help of the United States to end the tyranny of Lauren Gbagbo.
Mr. President, the unarmed and desperate people of Côte d’Ivoire do not need another round of verbal international condemnations of strongman Laurent Gbagbo. They want action from the US government to help the Ivoirian people remove Laurent Gbagbo from power by force. This call for action is for humanitarian reason because Laurent Gbagbo’s killing machine is engaged in a killing spree of innocent people in retaliation of his electoral defeat.
Mr. President, we the members of the African Diaspora stand united in support of the Ivoirian people and their democratically elected president , Alassane D. Ouattara. We demand decisive action from the United States to help the Ivoirian people put an end to the tyranny of Laurent Gbagbo in Côte d’Ivoire.
For the Action Group for Democracy in Côte d’Ivoire
Balla S. Sidibe
Lucien Pouamon
Mr. President,
On July 11 2009, in a memorable and inspirational speech before the Ghanaian Parliament in Accra, Ghana, you laid the grounds for what African nations needed to do to be the partners of America in building the capacity for transformational change. You underlined four critical criteria for the future of Africa: democracy, opportunity, health and the peaceful resolution of conflict. Throughout the continent young Africans listened carefully and took note. Right across the western border of Ghana, young men and women of Côte d’Ivoire heard your call with a touch of jealousy in their heart for not having their country included in your itinerary for your first official visit on the African continent.
We Ivoirians were fully aware of the challenge before us: we had to get started on the road to building a democratic system of representative government under the most difficult circumstances.
Emerging from an internal conflict that had left our country divided, we were still trying to organize the first free election in a decade. Mr. Laurent Gbagbo who came to power in a sham of an election in 2000 was using every repressive measure against the opposition as well as delaying maneuver of international agreement to remain in power beyond his 5 years term in a clear violation of the Constitution and the will of the Ivoirian people yearning for a truly representative government.
Finally last November, energized in great part by your call to young Africans to build strong and sustainable democratic governments, the Ivoirian people overcame their fears and uncertainties and they went to the polls in massive number to vote for their president. When the votes were counted by the Independent Election Commission as required by the election bylaws, the result came as follows: Mr. Alassane Ouattara 54.1%, Mr. Laurent Gbagbo 45.9%. the people of Côte d’Ivoire had spoken by electing Mr. Alassane Ouattara as the 5th president of the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire. The entire international community and more importantly the African countries through the African Union have welcomed the new president Alassane Ouattara.
Mr. President, what the Ivoirian people are facing today is the challenge of removing from power a defeated strongman in Laurent Gbagbo who refuses to abide by the election result by handing the reign of the government to the democratically elected President: Alassane Ouattara. A memorable line in your message to Africans was:” Africa doesn’t need strongmen, it needs strong institutions”. But what can an unarmed population do against a brutal dictator who has shown throughout his 10 years of reign an eagerness to kill innocent people to remain in power. Once again, a few days ago in December 14, 2010 former president Laurent Gbagbo ordered the army and his militia of mercenaries to shoot peaceful demonstrators as they tried to march toward the national TV and Radio station. As of today, the strongman Gbagbo stands in defiance of every pressure from the international community while members of the military and his militia of paid mercenaries from Liberia and Angola are using the cover of his curfew to engage in premeditate murders of innocent people whose only crime was to have cast their ballots for change.
Mr. President you stated in Accra that ”no person wants to live in a society where the rule of law gives way to the rule of brutality and bribery----that is no democracy, that is tyranny”. Dictators like Laurent Gbagbo have learned that they can commit murder and all kinds of violations of human rights with impunity. Please Mr. President fulfill your pledge that America will stand with those who initiate positive change. The Ivoirian people are demanding the help of the United States to end the tyranny of Lauren Gbagbo.
Mr. President, the unarmed and desperate people of Côte d’Ivoire do not need another round of verbal international condemnations of strongman Laurent Gbagbo. They want action from the US government to help the Ivoirian people remove Laurent Gbagbo from power by force. This call for action is for humanitarian reason because Laurent Gbagbo’s killing machine is engaged in a killing spree of innocent people in retaliation of his electoral defeat.
Mr. President, we the members of the African Diaspora stand united in support of the Ivoirian people and their democratically elected president , Alassane D. Ouattara. We demand decisive action from the United States to help the Ivoirian people put an end to the tyranny of Laurent Gbagbo in Côte d’Ivoire.
For the Action Group for Democracy in Côte d’Ivoire
Balla S. Sidibe
Lucien Pouamon
