20110110
Public Agenda

Ghana's decision not to contribute troops in support of a possible military intervention in La Cote d'Ivoire has in no doubt complicated matters for ECOWAS, which has served notice on the beleaguered Ivorian leader Laurent Gbagbo that, should ongoing diplomatic efforts fail to get him to step down; the sub-regional grouping will have no option but to force him out.

Ghana's new position which runs contrary to the Abuja Communiqué on the political stalemate in La Cote d'Ivoire was made known by President John Evans Atta Mills in a media encounter in Accra last Friday.

Ghana is one of three countries, along with Nigeria and Senegal that would normally be expected to play a leading role in any military intervention by ECOWAS.

President Mills also thinks military force will not solve the post election deadlock in that country. "As a person, I don't think that this military operation is going to bring peace to Cote d'Ivoire," he stated.

According to him, the country's military is overstretched as it is engaged in many peacekeeping assignments around the world and that he was not about to risk Ghana's internal peace to get rid of Mr. Gbagbo.

He said: "As Commander in Chief, I consulted with my Military High Command and they advised that they could not release troops to join any ECOWAS contingent to take military action in Cote d'Ivoire." But the President's comments appear not to go down well with many.

Alassane Ouattara who is largely recognized by ECOWAS and the international community as having won the election is currently holed up in the grounds of Abidjan's Golf Hotel with his government-in-waiting. But President Mills said Ghana was monitoring the situation very carefully and "will continue to pursue initiatives which will ensure there is peace in Cote d'Ivoire."

The President's position, however, fueled earlier speculations, especially in the international media that Ghana was covertly supporting incumbent President Gbagbo.

A former Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Hackman Owusu-Agyeman, however disagrees with President Mills.

To him the President's position is a betrayal of the sub-regional body. "He is now seen to be breaking ranks with ECOWAS. We must take the moral high ground," he said in a reaction to the President's comments in an interview with the electronic media last Friday.

Such pronouncements, he said, do not augur well for the country, especially considering its good standing in the sub-region.

To him in future it will be very difficult for ECOWAS, the African Union and other international bodies to trust Ghana as far as such matters are concerned.

Dr. Vladmir Antwi-Danso of Legon Centre for International Affairs also reacting described the President's remarks as a diplomatic blunder.

Whilst agreeing with the President that military intervention is not the best option he said the pronouncement is not in the best interest of the country and the sub-region as a whole.

But the President said regardless of allegations that his government was giving the embattled Ivorian President tacit support, "Ghana is not taking sides," in the delicate political standoff, but "Ghana should support any measures to implement the democratic ideals that we all cherish."

The President said he had been communicating with both Mr. Ouattara andMr. Laurent Gbagbo but stressed "it is not every detail that I can put in the public domain. Some of us believe in quiet diplomacy and that is exactly what we are doing."

He continued: "As a person, I do not think that this military operation is going to bring peace to Cote d'Ivoire." For him, it would be better for Ghana to 'mind your own business' in the crisis.

West African nations, usually led by regional giant Nigeria, have mounted military interventions under the banner of "ECOMOG" (Economic Community Monitoring Group) before.

But they have always been in much smaller countries than Ivory Coast where the governments in place wanted the foreign soldiers to come.

In Sierra Leone and Liberia, for example, ECOMOG troops arrived when the governments there were besieged by rebels - but, crucially, still in control of the main ports and airports so the outside forces could arrive and take up positions relatively easily.

In Cote d'Ivoire, the man still in charge of the army, the main airports and the seaports, Laurent Gbagbo, is violently opposed to any intervention.

There are an estimated 10,000 UN troops in Ivory Coast - and the mission has sent a request to the UN Security Council for an extra 1,000 to 2,000 soldiers.