On air: Ivory Coast on the Brink

as a Big brother country, Nigeria government offered Laurent gbagbo assylum in Nigeria but i know that president gbagbo will not repeat the same mistake former Liberian leader, Taylor made years back. so, to bthe internatio

I wonder why the celebrations that almost 20 African nations will hold elections next year?
An election is the end process of Democracy and given that Sub Sahara Africa has been a basket case with mass genocides, wars, rapes, tortures, overthrown Governments(?), starvation, poverty and worse, why is an election going to change anything?
All will happen is more of the same with different people.

In Switzerland, Immigrants have no automatic right to become swiss. As far as am I am aware, the northern people of the Ivory Coast were invited in to work. I find that no one is telling the Swiss that, children born of immigrants in Switzerland should automatically become Swiss. Yet the european countries in particular France want to dictate to the The Ivorians what they should do. In another twenty years or so the Europeans will not be able to tell or do anything to the emerging countries.
Bob.

History repeating itself; the Ivorian unrest reminds us of the Nigerian case: During the Biafra War of 1967-1969, which was triggered by a massacre by Muslims of Christians, the entire Western world stood by and allowed the Muslims of the North to slaughter the Christian, mainly Ibo, south. These Muslims were aided by outside Muslims, including Egyptian pilots who strafed and bombed Ibo villages, killing tens of thousands -- without any opposition, anti-aircraft fire, anything. President Laurent Gbagbo is a Christian, and the challenger, Mr. Is a Muslim from the North. The Christian Southerners and some other Africans support Mr. Gbagbo, and the Muslim Northerners, the West and the UN support Mr. Ouattara. The same old story!

On that note, so what's new ? It seems like same old same old Africa

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

Gbagbo is already moving to make a military intervention untenable. His black listed Goebbels character, Charles Ble Goude, is already making his daily rounds preparing people to carry out acts of violence on any foreigners and Northerners.
It should by now be obvious to the international community that Gbagbo would rather die than let the country recover. A very strong armed force is needed on the streets of Abidjan to keep the police-supported pro-Gbagbo thugs in check. In the pretext of protecting sovereignty, these, often jobless youths, are already racketeering on the streets of Abidjan in place of the police and armed forces. The permission to solicit bribes, rob people of whatever little they have, is Gbagbo's way of rewarding them for their support. When the international community understands, that these pro-Gbagbo youths are only on the streets for short-term financial gain through racketeering and a promise of a chance to loot, then they will have understood that the only way the stop Gbagbo now is by deploying real muscle on the streets of Abidjan. I personally do not see another way out.
The longer the international community waits the more violent the revenge attacks will be on Gbagbo's folk when their leader is gone.

It is a shame that BBC , RFI, AFP, and all European radios call Alassane Ouattara, the "president recognized by the International Community". Mr Ouattara should be called the President recognized by the Ivorians, not the international Community as said community is not the one that votes for Ivorian's president. By calling him the president of the International community, , you either alianate the voters who voted for him or make him look like the candidate of foreign forces, thus defending Gbagbo's views that the International community is waging war againg Ivorians. Shame on you all. What would you do when the truth comes out, you shameless europeans?

I thought the Ivory Coast was a sovereign country! If that is the case, signatories to the UN Charter agreed to respect sovereignity. In the US, a President wasn't elected by the people in 2000 but appointed by the US Supreme Court and there was no Halabooloo then! What country is selling arms to these poor countries to enable those countries to have a civil war? Apparently the Police and military forces of Ivory Coast are supporting their current President!

First, Mr. Gbagbo lost the election. Then he manipulated the court to get the result he wanted, after the election commission and ALL observers recognized that Mr. Ouattara had won the democratically held election. That is what dictators do. So what is the real problem? Mr. Gbagbo lost. He does not want to cede the presidency to the rightful winner. He wants to hold on to power. He should go. Even national leaders must be held to account for their actions before the UN and the world - no matter who they are.

Mr. Gbagbo's actions since the election are in obvious violation of international law, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. No state has the right to flaunt and violate international covenants and laws. Those who do violate international law are a threat to global peace and civility. The remedy is to have the UN Police Force immediately arrest Mr. Gbagbo. To do otherwise is to yield to this kind of non-sense elsewhere on the planet thereby further threatening world stability, endangering the lives of innocent children, women and men in and around the fraudulent leader, and causing additional local, regional and global economic challenges to an already fragile planet.

Give the UN Police Forces on the ground in Ivory Coast any additional personnel and materiel needed to arrest Mr. Gbagbo. We can not let this go on indefinitely.

The Ivory Coast election crisis is akin to the emerging real politik in Africa today, albeit seemingly violent, unrepresentative or undemocratic in the eyes of many, this scenario is increasingly becoming the norm in Africa as is elsewhere even in the USA-Bush/Gore,Zimbabwe-Morgan/R.Mugabe, Kenya-Kibaki/Odinga.

The interesting part in the later two cases ( Zimbabwe & Kenya), the emerging governments albeit weak politically, they coalitions have largely been a force for good, the log jammed constitutions in both countries have moved forward (constitutional reviewing), in Ivory Coast the review was incomplete, Outarra wouls have become President recognised by Ivorians unlike is the case where he is a pariah in his own country, but a stetesman internationally.

Sociologists argue that violence (such political violence) albeit archaic, criminal, inhuman has been a precursor to social evolution, progress and liberation (as from colonialism).

Gbabgo's political future in this case can only be guaranteed by Ivorians an no other group local or foreign, Ouatarra is seen an outsider by Nationalist Ivorians, he cannot, by whatever means cease power through demonstrations other han risk Genocide of his own people.

It's been great watching many parts of Africa grow and prosper and sad watching other areas suffer the many pains of war, conflict and the atrocities that go with it.

Mr. Gbagbo is only bringing disgrace and disrespect to his country, by his immature, selfish actions.

He must be pushed out, or many more will suffer for his actions. He needs to step down and run again at the next election if it's allowed.

I say to Mr. Gbagbo, "Prove you are a Man, not a spoiled brat!"

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

In Africa, many leaders hold to power just for the sake of having presidential prestige and protecting their entourage at the expense of the rest of the population who neither fully benefit from their countries' wealth or massive international aid. Ironically many leaders who like to stick to power put the blame on colonialism to justify their failing policies.

Ivory coast isn't an isolated case in Africa. Hundreds of thousand of lives were lost because of struggle for power in many African countries such as Rwanda, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Africa needs leaders who should consider that the well being of their countries is above their personal interests and ambitions. Perhaps they should take the example of old democracies in which the defeated candidate is the first to congratulate his victorious opponent in fair and transparent elections.

In case the international community fails to remove Laurent Gbagbo, will it let him govern by intensifying any sort of sanctions against his government?

Is there any likelihood that the international peacekeeping forces will engage in direct fights with the military supporting Laurent Gbagbo? In such a case how many international forces will be needed to do the battle?

Sometimes I wonder whether democracy can work in ethnically divided countries. The problem is that not the candidates with the best ideas are elected but the candidates that support the right ethnic group. I have no idea how this problem can be solved.

May I remind that this was also an issue in Europe.
In the 19th century in Europe the target of the democratic movement was not to make the existing states democratic but to create a democratic nation for the ethnic group, this was especially the case for the German. The result is Europe as we know it now, but this policy had devastating consequences including ethnic cleansing in the first part of the 20th century and after the collapse of communism.

This is a real touchy case. As much as I will advocate the removal of Luarent Gbagbo by force, the cost of doing that is quiet dire. A return to civil is inevitable if Gbagbo is removed by force. Sanctions as suggested by many will only affect average citizens not Gbagbo, the idea of power sharing or division of the country (North and South)will be quiet selfish. What is the essence of a true leader who does not care about the death of his subjects. This is what happens when selfish individuals are become leaders.

To the people of Ivory Coast, please respect each other. No politician is worth dying for. You have had the same leaders for some time now. You have exprienced their vain promises far too long. They only come to you when they need the political mandate to rule. Remember our African adage "it takes a village to raise up a kid". The village is the people in your community not the government(Gbagbo's or Quattara's) You commit suicide when you fight against each other in the name of some politician.

Thanks

I am sure the UN is trying their best to mitigate the loss of lives. This is only possible through negotiations and not the use of force. Obviously the UN is refraining from using force. What options are the UN pursuing in the absence of force to settle this situation?

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

Please, the so called constitutionnal court in Ivoiry coast is a farce. It's entirely under Gbagbo's control. Let's not forget that a few hours after the court claimed Gbagbo had won, the army immediately closed the borders and the internationnal medias were stopped. You do that only when you want to pass in force, like in Iran for example.

It's a real same to see Ivory coast and it's people in such a state because of two greedy politicians. It's the King Solomon theory, they would both divide the child rather than let the other have it. It just show that they do not care much about their people, just their political ambition for power. typical African leaders...shame on both of them.

Terri Gross has twice interviewed on Fresh Air a reporter who investigates and writes about a group of Conservative Christian Republicans in Washington, DC, USA, called "The Family", which supports and funds right wing Dictators around the world and I wonder if the BBC can find out if they are involved in these Ivory Coast problems, because this looks like their publicly stated policy at work.