Ouattara Government Starts Probe on Gbagbo

Abidjan, Ivory   Coast

Ivory   Coast’s new President Alassane Ouattara has said that they have launched investigations into alleged crimes committed by ousted leader Laurent Gbagbo.

Ouattara told the state-run television that preliminary investigations over crimes and offences committed by Gbagbo and his close associates were underway. Gbagbo who is placed under house arrest could face criminal charges if sufficient evidence is summed.

Gbagbo and his wife Simone were arrested on April 11at the presidential palace in the capital, Abidjan, ending the five-month unrest following disputed election in November last year.

A coalition of human rights groups has also initiated investigations on reports of mass murders and other abuses allegedly committed by forces loyal to Ouattara during the period of unrest.

A team of experts is travelling to the village of Carrefour in western Ivory Coast where mass killings are believed to have been carried out.

The Ivorian constitutional council in December upended election commission’s vote results that declared Ouattara winner over alleged irregularities, declaring Gbagbo victor.

Gbagbo had refused to relinquish power and let the internationally recognised winner Ouattara to rule, pitting the country into post poll chaos.

A faction of forces loyal to Gbagbo have refused offer to disarm and still continues to fight even after his capture. Several army generals and officers under Gbagbo have switched sides, pledging loyalty to the new leader. The latest move was that of Tuesday’s switch of former chief of staff of Ivory Coast’s armed forces, Gen Mathias Doue.

Operations in the country’s cocoa and banking industry are set to resume within days, in efforts to restore normality. Many banks which had closed doors during the unrest are gearing to resume functions and are expected to open to customers before the end of the week. Operations in the

Cocoa exports are expected to resume within days once a dispute over customs duty arrangement

is settled.

Ivorian cocoa industry was worst hit by the political turmoil in the country, owing to the economic sanctions imposed on its export.  Being the leading producer in the world market, Ivory Coast exports about 1.2 million tonnes of cocoa annually about a third of world’s total.

The humanitarian crisis in the country is far from ending even after most of the fighting seized. Thousands of people mostly in the capital and western part of the country are displaced and are in lack of basic supplies and medical care.

The UN refugee agency UNHCR estimates about one million people have been displaced in and around Abidjan, with at least 200,000 in the west. UNHCR says it has resumed operations in registering the displaced which was stopped when fighting intensified weeks ago.



Abuja, Nigeria

Nigerians Elect Governors amid Presidential Poll Violence

Nigerians have come out to elect governors of the country’s 36 states in the final phase of the lengthy exercise that has claimed over 500 lives to poll violence.

Election for the governorship has been entirely peaceful since its commencement on Tuesday with low turnout being recorded in most polling centres. 29 states out of 36 held their elections which were shortly delayed in some polling centres. Election in five states will not be held since governors from those states won legal petitions last year against the 2007 elections, while elections in Kaduna and Bauch states in the north was postponed until Thursday owing to their intense effect of last week’s violence.

Low voter turnout has been reported in the north mainly due to the violence which has been largely blamed on politicians who are arming gangs. The police commissioner in the Maiduguri city which has been worst hit by bomb attacks has blamed the Boko Haram Islamist Group which in the recent past has been carrying out such attacks.

European Union and the US diplomats have sharply criticised perpetrators of the violence in a joint statement, calling all Nigerian leaders to behave responsibly.

The UN special envoy on genocide Francis Deng is expected to visit Nigeria to assess killings that have happened in the northern part of the country over the outcome of the April 16 presidential elections.

This vote follows that of the legislature and presidential elections which were held earlier this month. Violence broke out last week in the Muslim-influential north after incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan a southern Christian was declared winner of the April 16 presidential run-off by wide margin.

Supporters of the Jonathan’s closest contender Muhammadu Buhari –a northerner and former military ruler- rejected the results and took to the streets. An estimated 500 people have died and over 40,000 displaced and properties worth of millions destroyed.

Preliminary results in the ongoing vote counting shows that Jonathan’s Peoples Democratic Party [PDP] party is on the lead overall. Though marred by violence, the exercise has been declared free and fair despite of few unconfirmed cases of intimidation being reported in Niger Delta. The United States Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Ambassador Johnnie Carson will, on Friday brief the White House Correspondents on his assessment on the 2011 elections in Nigeria.

Jonathan, then vice-president, took over power last year following death of President-elect Umaru Yar’Adua after long battle with illness. Northerners feel that next president should have come from their region since Yar’Adua a northerner had not finished his tenure as per the party’s two-term rotational agreement.

The north and south largely differ in culture, religion and ethnicity and the long-lasting feud has been largely blamed on resource allocation. Nigeria is Africa’s most populous nation with more than 150 million people