According to him, the people of Ivory Coast have suffered greatly since the beginning of the political impasse between the disgraced Ivorian leader, Gbagbo and the internationally recognized President Alassane Ouattara.
Cote D’ Ivoire’s former leader, Laurent Gbagbo, whose refusal to step down after losing an election in November triggered a civil war, was captured yesterday after French troops and forces loyal to Alassane Ouattara laid siege to his residence. He is now in the custody of the UN backed President Alassane Ouattara at the Gulf Hotel. This was after months of belligerence by Gbagbo, and weeks of shelling, killing and armed conflict between government forces loyal to Gbagbo and rebel forces loyal to Ouattara.
Over 800 people are believed to have died from the battle, with an estimated one million more fleeing the country as refugees.
Speaking on e-TV’s Breakfast TV Newspaper Review, Dr. Vladimir Antwi-Danso debunked reports that less diplomatic intervention was made by African bodies to bring hostilities to an end. He said the ECOWAS, AU, EU, UN, individuals, and hotlines were used; prominent persons in society and across the globe all tried persuading Gbagbo, all to no avail.
According to him, war is a continuation of diplomacy, pointing out that “it is one of the tools but the last resort, so smoking him (Gbagbo) out is part of the diplomacy, and his arrest brings to an end certain carnage in the history of the Ivory Coast. We expected at a point last month that all efforts would get him to understand that the die is cast, but it couldn’t materialize”.
He surmised that what happened to the deposed Ivorian leader was an inevitable end, and it was also long overdue.
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