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Let
me start by telling you a true story. In 1996 Chairman John Fru Ndi
travelled through Abidjan to Mali to attend some socialist meeting there with
President Alpha Oumar Konare and Ibrahim Boubacar Keita (who is now the
President) (both of them socialists). On his way back he got stuck at the
airport in Abidjan because he did not have a
visa to Cote d’Ivoire.
While killing time at the airport he was noticed by an Ivorian policeman
because he was wearing his trademark traditional dress. When the Chairman
explained his visa status to the policeman, the officer reported the matter to
his boss. Before long, the matter had been transmitted through channels
to the highest ranks of the police to the Minister of the Interior and finally
to President Henri Konan Bédié.
President
Bédié reacted by giving instructions that the Chairman should be given a visa and
brought into Abidjan
as a guest of the Ivorian government. He was lodged at Hotel
Ivoire. Before long the Chairman was brought to President Bédié’s home in
Cocody where he was received by the Ivorian President.
During
his meeting “en tête a tête”, with Chairman John Fru Ndi, the Ivorian
President called Laurent Gbagbo ( at that time President of the FPI) and said:
“Hey Laurent, j’ai ton ami Fru Ndi avec moi dans mon
bureau. Je te l’envoie après”. In spite of the fact
that Henri Konan Bédié and Laurent Gbagbo were political adversaries, the
strange camaraderie between them illustrates the fact that politics in Cote d’Ivoire
was still being played at a certain level of parliamentary honour.
I
speak as a witness to these events and to the fact that the FPI and the SDF are
close political parties and that the relationship between the John Fru Ndi and
Laurent Gbagbo has been close. President Laurent Gbagbo came to
power on 26 October 2000 following the presidential elections which were organized
by Robert Guéi. But the traumatic events which were to trail Cote
d’Ivoire for ten years started with the attempted coup of 19 September 2002
which gave rise to a rebellion that resulted in the country being split into
two. There is no question about the fact that Mr. Soro Guillaume
Kigbafori was a central part of that rebellion.
Following
a series of conferences and peace talks in various African cities, a Union
Government was formed at the head of which Mr. Soro Guilllaume was named Prime
Minister and head of a government by President Laurent Gbagbo himself and he
occupied that position from 4 April 2007 to 4 December 2010. This
is the government composition which went to the contested presidential
elections of November 2010 following which Soro Guillaume resigned as Prime
Minister in the ensuing electoral dispute. After Alassane Ouattara was
sworn in as President on 6 May 2011, Mr. Soro Guillaume resumed the
position of Prime Minister which he occupied till 13 March 2012 under Alassane
Ouattara.
It
is dangerous for us as foreigners (non-Ivorians) to go back to the question of
who won and who lost that election of November 2010 because it is a historical
fact that the electoral dispute was finally adjudicated only after the French
army pounded the residence of Ivorian President for over two weeks until
President Laurent Gbagbo was taken out alive on 6 April 2011. He
was finally sent to the Hague to face charges at
the ICC after the current President Alassane Ouattara had been sworn-in as the
President of the Republic
of Cote d’Ivoire.
Subsequent
parliamentary elections resulted in the emergence of Mr. Soro Guillaume
Kigbafori as the new President of the National Assembly. It is very
dangerous for us as non Ivorians to go back to labeling anyone as “rebel”.
I need not remind you that for a long time certain countries called Nelson
Mandela a “terrorist” because of what he had to do at a certain stage of his
life. This brings us to the question as to the moral and political
justification of the position of the SDF in response to the invitation to the
National Assembly in Cameroon.
The Visit of Soro Guillaume to Cameroon
I
am of the opinion that the SDF made a mistake in taking such a public position
against the visit of Soro Guilllaume in the capacity of the President of the
Ivorian National Assembly and instructing its deputies to walk out on the
speech of the Ivorian leader. To characterize Soro Guillaume as a “Chief Rebel” is a
mistake. He is now the President of the National Assembly and an integral
part of constituted authority in the Republic of Cote d’Ivoire.
This does not call on anyone to like him or to love him. It calls
on everyone to acknowledge and to respect the office because Cote d’Ivoire is a
nation that is above Soro Guillaume, Alassane Ouattara, Konan Bédié and Laurent
Gbagbo or any other person who might, at one time or another, be
called upon by political circumstances to occupy any of the constitutional
offices of the land.
It was not necessary for the SDF NEC to
pass a resolution distancing itself from the visit of Soro Guillaume to the
National Assembly. There are certain political situations which call for
a response at a statesman level rather than at a streetsman level. The SDF
could have intervened with Cavaye Djibrill the President of the National
Assembly to negotiate for a private visit to the Chairman by Soro Guillaume as
a condition for the SDF MPs to remain in the Assembly Hall during Soro
Guillaume’s speech. This visit would have enabled Mr Soro
Guillaume to brief the Chairman John Fru Ndi on the purpose of his visit and it
would have also given the Chairman the opportunity to let Mr. Soro Guilllaume
know what the SDF thinks about the events that took place in Cote
d’Ivoire. It would have been a very suitable occasion for the SDF to call
for the release of all political prisoners in Cote d’Ivoire and to summon the
Ivorian authorities to do more for reconciliation. If all of this had
been done, Mr. Soro Guillaume would have left Cameroon with a completely different
view of Cameroonian democracy and the SDF would have emerged the real
beneficiary of the visit of Soro Guillaume to Cameroon. Cameroon/ Cote d’Ivoire
relations would have been put at a completely different level.
But the SDF decision has put them in a corner
and they have emerged gaining nothing out of their approach in handling this
event. In fact they are the big losers. I can state with full
authority that Laurent Gbagbo will be of the opinion that the SDF made a
mistake in handling the matter the way they did. If consulted,
Laurent Gbagbo would have encouraged Chairman John Fru Ndi to receive Soro
Guillaume who is a mere 42 year old young man, holding a very important
position in his country. He wants to reach out and talk to people in a
country like Cameroon where most senior positions in the country are still held
by much older people. That is why more and more Ivorian leaders are
coming to Cameroon. If the Chairman had remembered the way that President
Henri Konan Bédié received him in 1996, I am sure that he would have handled
the Soro Guillaume visit in a different way.
How to repair the damage
There are certain mistakes which are
difficult to correct and we should strive to avoid making them. But
any mistake can be corrected once it is acknowledged that it was a
mistake. The SDF needs to move quickly to repair the damage. If
anyone is interested in knowing how to repair the damage, let them contact me.
Courtesy:chiefsusungi.com
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