--Subject: What Gbagbo Believes In....


> Introductory Remarks
> by
> Laurent Gbagbo,
> President of Front Populaire Ivoirien
> The National Press Club, Washington DC, on June 23, 1997
>
>
>   Ladies and Gentlemen,
> As surprising as it may sound, multiparty politics was authorized in Cote
> d'lvoire only on April 30, 1990 after thirty years of national
sovereignty.
> Our constitution provides for numerous rights and freedoms, yet and for
most
> Ivorians it is clear that democracy to this moment still remains held up
to
> ridicule in our country. Most of our compatriots have the unsettling
feeling
> that the closer we get to the year 2000 the more our freedoms are
curtailed.
>
> In Cote d'Ivoire, the State apparatus is not partial. The current
> administration's refusal to resolutely opt for the path of democratic
> reforms as well as its tragic stubbornness against sizing up the winds of
> change and the irreversible character of the democratic process have
shrivel
> the political and social relations, thus poisoning the political climate.
> The State, instead of being the protector of all, hounds down large
segments
> of the population. Having given up on maintaining a neutral posture, the
> security forces, clothed and paid with Ivorian taxpayer's money, have
> ruthlessly repress prodemocratic militants. As a matter of fact, the
> government bureaucracy has acquired itself a habit: that of cloaking
itself
> in the ruling party's colors. Consequence: before facing up the ruling
party
> proper during general elections all opposition candidates do have first to
> contend with their first opponents: the prefectoral and sub-prefectoral
> bureaucracies. To this one should add the side-stepping of electoral
> transparency by the government both in 1990 and 1995 and the heavy-handed
> control of the Interior ministry over the whole electoral process.
>
> Everyday, discredit and opprobium are heaped onto democratic opposition
> parties and their leaders. Everyday, opposition parties and their leaders
> are demonized and subjected to Intimidations, beatings, and imprisonment.
>
> State media are monopolized by the current administration and turned into
> the ruling party's instrument of propaganda, occultation, and even of
> sabotage of opposition activities. To muzzle the private press, carrier of
> hope of freedom, libel suits for "offense to the Head of State",,
incitement
> to violence suits as well as many other exotic suits on trumped charges
are
> common place against journalists. To this already long list of violence
and
> violations, one should add the judiciary branch, a branch completely
> subjugated to the current administration. Our judiciary branch is adept at
> shying away from honoring its responsibility.
>
> Put together all these basic human rights violations, micro-management of
> the judiciary branch, and attempts at gagging the private press have lead
to
> the perverting of the whole democratic process in Cote d'Ivoire where the
> ruling party is both judge and judged.
>
> Born out of a serious social crisis, the multiparty experience in Cote
> d'Ivoire until now has evolved through crises. Taking stock of these
crises,
> it is clear that with regard to democracy the Ivorian society has not yet
> reached a new "consensus." It is also quite obvious that confidence in the
> current administration's ability to propose a coherent and progressive
path
> to succeed at this democratic experiment has disappeared. This is why the
> ruling PDCI's stubborn drive towards bringing Ivorians back to the
one-party
> system, its commitment to impose, by all means, PDCI's one-party system
once
> again, remains a real subject of serious concern for my party, the Ivorian
> Popular Front.
>
> This situation is particularly troubling in view of one of the most
striking
> teachings of contemporary Third World history: it is the power structure's
> refusal to dialogue with their legal opposition that sooner or later has
> produced armed oppositions. Whether in Africa with Machel, Agostino Neto
and
> Amilcar Cabral, or in Asia Ho Chi Minh and Giap, it should be noted that
> none of those liberation leaders have chosen to engage in armed struggle
at
> the onset; they were forced to it by those in powers. These nationalists
> were only demanding independence and the exercise of basic freedoms. They
> all tried to negotiate for a peaceful path to independence, to no avail.
> Indeed, it is the refusal to listen to them that have forced them into
armed
> struggle. More recently in Zaire, this threshold of exasperation has been
> reached in a dosage that was poisonous. Laurent Desire Kabila and his
troops
> provided the straw that had finally broken the camel's back and Mobutu had
> no other choice than to leave. The same history teaches us equally that
most
> civil wars in Africa came out of poorly organized elections. In Liberia,
for
> instance, it is the intolerance, the totalitarianism of the exslaves that
> has led to the military coup that brought Samuel Doe to power in 1980.
> Ironically, five years later, the same intolerance and totalitarianism
will
> pushed Samuel Doe into rigging the 1985 elections. Therein lies why some
> people in Liberia felt they had no other options than to take up arms.
>
> In Burundi, FRODEBU won fair and square during democratic elections and
its
> leader Melshior N'Dadaye came out elected President. Three months later,
> refusing to accept President Ndadaye's victory, retrograde forces
> assassinated him and many of his aides. And the country, ladies and
> gentlemen, has been destabilized. In Nigeria, democratic elections have
been
> organized by the Babanguida administration, yet when Abiola came out the
> victor, his victory was not accepted. Today, Nigeria is a destabilized
> country looking like a drunken boat on indomitable waves. To believe that
> one should always govern tends to sooner or later provoke internal
> conflagrations. In Africa, as anywhere else, nobody is ever strong enough
to
> be strong forever. We are worried.
>
> Ladies and Gentlemen, My party, its militants and leaders, deeply love Me
> d'Ivoire. It is painful for us Africans to see the situation in which our
> countries find themselves because of the selfishness of some backward
> forces. Nevertheless,- the FPI refuses to be driven to despair about Cote
> d'Ivoire and continues to believe in the future of our country. We
continue
> to dream of a day where the whole Ivorian society will reconcile with
> itself. It is with these feelings of great urgency that the FPI is calling
> once again for an immediate opening of dialogue to prepare for a serene
> future for Cote d'Ivoire. The current period could not be more propitious
> for such an undertaking. For we are sufficiently far away from the last
> elections so as to escape its crops of resentment and yet not close enough
> to the next elections to feel its pressures.
>
> Reducing and eliminating the current tension, restoring confidence and the
> flourishing of freedoms will inevitably mean establishing a new consensus
> around four (4) priority themes:
>
> 1. A revision of the electoral system to be based on proportional
> representation and nondiscriminatory laws
> 2. A development policy based on institutional reforms and
decentralization
> 3. A liberalization of state-owned media and the promotion of a free
press.
> 4. A regional integration of West African economies.
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
------
> These remarks were made at The National Press Club, Washington DC, on June
> 23, 1997
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
--

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L
Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
You may also send subscription requests to [log in to unmask]
if you have problems accessing the web interface and remember to write your full name and e-mail address.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------