Cote d’ Ivoire: ECOWAS expresses concerns over fate of Gbagbo

BY EMMA OVUAKPORIE

ABUJA – The President of ECOWAS Commission, Amb James Victor Gbeho, has expressed concerns over the fate of Mr. Laurent Gbagbo in captivity and called on President Alassane Ouattara of Cote d’Ivoire to ensure that the former Ivorian leader captured in Abidjan on Monday and currently under the protection of the United Nations was accorded the dignity and rights due him as a former Head of State.

In a letter to President Ouattara yesterday, Amb Gbeho stated that ECOWAS considered Mr. Gbagbo’s capture as a unique opportunity to bring the crisis in the country to an early end, adding that he was heartened by President Ouattara’s conciliatory address to the Ivorian nation, in which he cautioned against revenge-seeking and promised to set up a Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

“Against this background, I do not feel any more need, on behalf of the ECOWAS Commission, to recall the undertaking that you made both to ECOWAS and  African Union with regard to the safety and well being of Mr. Laurent Gbagbo, despite his violent and stubborn opposition to the choice made by Ivorian people,”  said Gbeho.

Assuring President Ouattara that his “undertaking has all along been respected and supported by the ECOWAS Commission as being both humane and exemplary”.