Kiflu Hussain: Atta Mills's shown Ghana's no banana republic

The greater the power, the
greater the persecution

(By Kiflu Hussain)
"Having overlooked the fact
that Julian Assange, founder
of WikiLeaks had received
awards from Amnesty
International in 2009..More

Atta Mills’s shown Ghana’s no banana republic

09 January, 2011 | By Kiflu Hussain
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

At a time when it is

unequivocally revealed by

wikiLeaks that not even

Europe is immune from

being pushed

around by the

corporate world of the

United States and its

government that has

emerged as the sole super

power, John Atta Mills, President of Ghana dared to take a different
stance on Ivory Coast from the usual chorus in Africa that parrots
Washington, London or Paris.BBC Focus on Africa reported on
January 7 that the Ghanaian president who is one of the few in the
continent for being elected in a genuine democratic process, stated
that he does not think military force will solve the post-election
debacle in Ivory Coast. In what could be a blow to the so-called
international community, particularly ECOWAS, Atta Mills
elaborated that Ghana would not take sides in the stand-off between
the incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo and his rival, Alassane
Quattara.After having explained the existence of around one million
Ghanaians in Ivory Coast thereby hinting its ghastly implications, he
made it clear that Ghana will not send any troops to the former
French colony. He concluded by saying that “Ghana will not choose
president for Ivorians”except advocating “quite diplomacy.”

         Personally, since situations began precipitating in Ivory Coast,
this is the first bold statesmanship I witnessed. To me the issue has
never been whether Gbagbo wanted to cling to power despite losing
an election. Though, I always detest dictatorship wherefore I gladly
embrace opposition to it from democratic camps, nonetheless, I
have serious misgivings on the forces arrayed against Laurent
Gbagbo. This force calls itself “international community” through the
passing of resolutions via UN Security Council, African Union/AU/
and the likes. For enforcement of its resolution or to flex its muscles
on wayward rulers, it uses so-called regional unions like IGAD and
ECOWAS. Unlike Caryn Abrahams, a researcher affiliated with the
Centre of African Studies in Edinburgh, who was unable to make up
her mind as to whether the UN is “a global pooper scooper, a band-
aid or a collection of thousands of administrative antibodies,” I have
long made up mind that UN,since its League of Nation’s days, is a
mammoth rubber stamp organization in the global equation that
primarily caters to the interests of the big powers./See BBC Focus
on Africa Magazine,Oct-Dec 2010 for Caryn Abrahams “Blue Hats
and Bureaucrats”./Therefore, any steps taken in a fair and just
manner by the UN to resolve tension or conflict appears incidental
to me. For instance, while Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia agreed to abide
by the ruling of the Boundary Commission without resorting to
appeal in the wake of his senseless bloody war in 1998-2000
against Isaias Afeworki of Eritrea, recanted when the decision
favored Eritrea. Since Meles was more amenable to the will of the
Western interest than his former mentor and cousin in Eritrea who
was once extolled to the skies as a liberator, a new breed leader
and an architect of an economy based on self-reliance, was shunned
by the “international community” despite being a judgment-creditor.
Then came the Islamic Union of Courts in Mogadishu which served
Meles Zenawi as a perfect opportunity to deflect attention from his
broad daylight rigging of an election whereby he suffered an
ignominious defeat in 2005 unlike tight elections in Kenya,
Zimbabwe, Guinea and now Ivory Coast. Contrary to Kenya and
Zimbabwe, where power sharing ended the impasse, Meles gunned
down over two hundred civilians, rounded up thousands of others to
send them to concentration camps along with the opposition leaders.
He also vilified Ana Gomes, the Chairperson of the EU Election
Observer Mission and eventually pronounced her persona non grata.
Meanwhile, against the original understanding between IGAD
member countries on not sending peacekeeping troops from the
vicinity, posturing as an ally in the “war on terror,” he sent his
henchmen to Mogadishu and committed unspeakable crimes until all
Somalis united to force his ejection. Although, analysts from various
“think-tanks” concurred that Meles’s henchmen fuelled the Somali
conflagration, the “international community” picked an easy target to
vent its frustration; thus sanctioned Isaias Afeworki’s Eritrea.
Unfortunately, the sanction that accused Asmara of arming and
harboring Al-Shaabab did not deter it from unleashing its lethal force.
Rather, it has succeeded to distribute the carnage to the doorsteps
of Uganda and Kenya or so we have been “informed.”

        At any rate, as a reward for rigging elections, incarcerating
and massacring civilians both in Ethiopia and Somalia, the
“international community” allowed him more to wallow with millions
of dollars and to occasionally hobnob with heavyweight figures in the
global corridors. Using his immunity, he held another farcical election
in May 2010 that surpassed all. Again he vilified and barred the
chairman of the EU Election Observer Mission; Thijs Berman. This
sort of double standard by the “international community” is not only
confined in Ethiopia. According to a recent report by Timothy
Kalyegira, Editor of Uganda Record, in 2006 Western ambassadors
urged the main opposition figure, Dr.Kiza Besigye to “concede”
defeat to the incumbent Yoweri Museveni.Museveni is another
despot who is profiteering in the “war on terror.” On top of feeding
Uganda’s youth as cannon fodders in Somalia, latest reports linked
him through his brother Gen.Salim Saleh that he is out to profit more
via “Private Military Companies” like the infamous Blackwater in
Iraq. /See The East African Dec 27, 2010-Jan 2, 2011. /The
writings on the wall indicate that the upcoming election in Uganda in
February can be held as hostage by the incumbent invoking “stability
vis-à-vis war on terror” among other recipes to reject the “will” of
the people. When we cross to West Africa, we find Nigeria whose
president inherited the presidency from his predecessor Umar Yar’
Adua whose election was marred by controversy and fraud. Blaise
Compaore of Burkina Faso has been in power for over two
decades after assassinating his predecessor. And these and others
make up the membership of ECOWAS that calls for Laurent
Gbagbo to respect the “will” of Ivorians or else face their wrath.
There is also another aspect that we haven’t been told unequivocally
from the perspectives of the law of the land in Ivory Coast as to
whether whose decision prevails in the event of election dispute; the
declaration of election results by the Electoral Commission or the
ruling of the Constitutional Council? Why is that the world that finds
it easy to do business with Meles Zenawi with all his puny institutions
including his Kangaroo courts finds it difficult, at least to consider
Gbagbo’s assertion that the law is on his side? Why ridicule his
argument to equate his situation with the United States Supreme
Court that made George Bush president when the whole world
including Americans believed that the winner was Algore? When
Shaka Ssali hosted Augustin Douoquih, Esq.Legal Adviser for
Laurent Gbagbo with a profound deference not meant only as a
matter of courtesy, I sensed once again that something was amiss
with the “international community’s” stance against Gbagbo. The
other interlocutor, Anzman Diabate,Editor of a website called Focus
Africa who is also an Ivorian, couldn’t refute the position and cool
explanation of Gbagbo’s legal adviser. I have also noticed subtle
perversion of truth by some Medias to make it look like that all
previous postponement of elections in Ivory Coast was made to
extend the rule of Gbagbo without consulting all stakeholders. The
truth, as can be seen from Wikipedia and other sources was that all
postponement was acknowledged and approved by UN and AU
since the rebels in the north refused to disarm.

              Currently, in our world that’s rife with deception such as
the one that nearly made us believe that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of
Iran rigged election until WikiLeaks showed us that was the
concoction of his nemesis, the White House, Gbagbo’s assertion
that the French and Americans wanted to see him go should not be
set aside lightly. Since history is not kind to these two Western
nations when it comes to seeing genuine democracy flourish in
Africa, we should ask why they clamor for his removal via the
bloodletting of Africans. In view of this, therefore, the “international
community” which has never been consistent, in fact chronically
deficient in moral grounds to castigate anyone on election defaults,
the position taken by President John Atta Mills of Ghana on Ivory
Coast shows that that country is no banana republic that puts its
people in harms way to appease the big powers of the world. The
first move to oust Gbagbo must come from none other but Ivorians
themselves.Sadly, the military from whom Alassane Quattara claims
“63 percentage” support is still firmly behind Laurent Gbagbo not to
speak of his failure to rally the public for any meaningful civil
disobedience.

---------------------------------------------------------------
Kiflu Hussain is An Ethiopian Refugee in Uganda, he can be
reached at: kiflukam@yahoo.com