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President of the Front Populaire Ivoirien (Ivorian Popular Front), Pascal Affi N’Guessan was speaking in an exclusive interview with The Herald from his Abidjan residence stating that the decision that African leaders will take shall forever shape how much they will let the West interfere in African affairs. Letting the West have a say would be letting them dictate to the continent in what he described as the continued existence of a colonial agenda by erstwhile masters in post independence Africa.
“I hope that as they decide what position to take in the Ivorian election crisis they shall show wisdom. I have no doubt that they shall analyse the information at hand and decide in favour of (President) Gbagbo,” said N’Guessan.
“I appeal to them (African leaders) to have an understanding of what is at stake here. It is Ivorian and ultimately African sovereignty that is at stake.”
N’Guessan took a swipe at the unrelenting efforts by the former colonial power, France’s leader Nicolas Sarcozy, to sway the decision of the African Union in favour of opposition candidate Alassane Ouattara’s favour against a Laurent Gbagbo who is seen as a thorn in the flesh owing to his strong policies that threaten the French stranglehold on Ivorian politics and the economy.
Ouattara, with perceived assistance from his Western friends in the Bretton Woods institutes for which he served previously as an IMF senior staffer for African affairs, has successfully seen the imposition of travel bans and economic sanctions on individuals in government as well as the nation as he has gone a step further to demand that this leading cocoa producer be stopped from exporting this high earning crop.
“We do not mind if Africa comes and decides to intervene peacefully in our electoral crisis. However, it is totally a travesty for the West and France to poke their noses in the affairs of sovereign African states. They should not be allowed to do that and the African Heads of State should spell that out clearly,” added N’Guessan.
Mr N’Guessan said the crisis in the Ivory Coast presented an enviable chance for African heads of state to rise up and show that the were worth their salt, totally capable of solving their own Africa disputes Amicably and successfully.
“It is time that we show our maturity in solving our own problems as African leaders without the interference of Western leaders. And to do this, Africa leaders have to have wisdom and good understanding of the issues when they deliberate on the issue at the African Union,” said N’Guessan.-The Herald
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