Ghana has been sidelined in a major discussion to plan possible military action to force Ivorian leader, Laurent Gbagbo, to abide by the results of a general election that saw opposition leader Alassane Ouatarra voted the country’s new president.
\nThe recently held meeting, which was attended by military chiefs within the ECOWAS sub-region, did not include Ghana\u2019s Chief of Defence Staff.
\nGovernment says ECOWAS chose to exclude Lieutenant General Peter Augustine Blay from the discussion apparently due to Ghana\u2019s position at an earlier ECOWAS meeting that the body employs diplomacy to get Mr Gbagbo to bow to the wishes of the Ivorian people as expressed through the ballot box. Military intervention, it was argued, was not the best way to end the post-election standoff in Ivory Coast.
\nDeputy Information Minister, James Agyenim-Boateng, made these disclosures in a Citi News interview during which he also defended President Mills\u2019 position on the prevailing stand-off in Ghana\u2019s Western neighbour.
\nNotwithstanding criticism from some quarters including Ghana’s opposition NPP, Mr. Agyenim-Boateng insists that President Mills will continue to use behind-the-scenes diplomatic channels in an effort to help resolve the Ivorian crisis.
\nThe President, in a meeting with Editors and senior Journalists at the Castle, Osu on January 7, 2011, said Ghana would not contribute troops to any proposed military action by ECOWAS because her forces were overstretched, with many on UN duty across the globe. 500 of the UN troops guarding Mr Ouattara in his hotel base are Ghanaian.
\nIn any case, the use of force would likely rather worsen the situation, he added.
\nIn another interview with Citi Breakfast Show Host Bernard Avle, author and security analyst, Col. Festus Aboagye (Rtd.) backed the President’s decision to go public with Ghana\u2019s stance on the Ivorian crisis. \u201cWhatever the president said can never be interpreted to mean that he is either for Gbagbo or in that context against Ouatarra,” he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ghana has been sidelined in a major discussion to plan possible military action to force Ivorian leader, Laurent Gbagbo, to abide by the results of a general election that saw opposition leader Alassane Ouatarra voted the country’s new president. The recently held meeting, which was attended by military chiefs within the ECOWAS sub-region, did not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-273420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\n