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It might just be a difficult time for Ghana’s President, Nana Akufo-Addo, to be chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) as he prepares for election in his country and monitors those of the other countries in the sub-region, which are threatened by electoral violence.
Nigeria, the power house of the region and the most populous country in Africa, has been hit by unrest, following demands by protesters that the government disband a rogue police unit called the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, commonly known as SARS, and that they say particularly robs, tortures and even kills well-dressed young people who the officers think might have money. The crowds have also called for punishment of officers who commit acts of brutality.
They have been deaths and injuries, following clashes between protesters and state security, including the military with the world’s attention on that county and pressure on ECOWAS and Ghana’s President to say something on the matter and even call his friend, President Muhammadu Buhari.
While the Nigerian unrest rages on, Al Jazeera reports that eight civilians and two policemen were killed in Guinea’s capital Conakry in clashes between security forces and opposition supporters after a tense presidential election with results showing President Alpha Conde in the lead.
Guinea’s security ministry, announced the death toll on Wednesday, following last weekend’s vote.
Opposition supporters, burned barricades in the streets on Wednesday after initial results showed Conde ahead in vote-counting.
“At least three people died today [Wednesday] that I saw with my own eyes … and about 10 others were wounded,” Mamadou Keganan Doumbouya, a security official, told AFP news agency.
Hadjiratou Barry, a resident of an area where clashes were taking place, also said her brother had been shot dead. A local doctor, who declined to be named, said he received two dead bodies and nine injured people at his clinic.
Sadly, Côte d’Ivoire, whose President, Alassane Ouattara, is also a friend to Ghana’s Akufo-Addo, is walking into an unrest too.
The Africa report.com reports that after violence on Monday in Abidjan and in some Ivorian cities, ECOWAS has called on opponents, Henri Konan Bédié and Pascal Affi Nguessan to “reconsider their call to civil disobedience”.
Like his classmates from the André Malraux school group in the center of Abidjan, Jean, did not go to class this Monday, October 19.
With his beige uniform and small backpack, he walked along the Riviera 2 interchange in search of a woro-woro (collective cab) or a gbaka (mini-bus) to join his mother who works at the Cocody University Hospital.
On the traffic circle, dominated by a large campaign poster of Alassane Ouattara, a bus from Sotra, the public transport company, had run out of fuel. A few dozen young people set it on fire.
“They were new. They blocked the bus, asked the passengers to get out and mugged some of them,” said a salesman.
A car with a government license plate also paid the price for its anger. A little further on, towards the village of Anono, barricades made of tables and burnt tires were erected. “Alassane Ouattara, it’s over,” said one of the demonstrators who were set to play cat and mouse with the police throughout the day.
High Tension
With less than two weeks to go before the presidential election, tensions have risen sharply in some parts of the country such as Bonoua, Divo, Dabou, and Kotobi (near Bongouanou), where the gendarmerie was ransacked.
Several schools in Abidjan shut down in confusion. The Student and School Federation of Côte d’Ivoire (Fesci) had previously issued a 72-hour strike notice before finally suspending its strike action.
The Abidjan clashes were confined to a few neighbourhoods and did not result in any casualties. In Bonoua, on the other hand, one young man lost his life when he was hit by a bullet. Clashes occurred between demonstrators who had blocked the main road and law enforcement officials.
On Saturday, three people died in inter-communal violence in Bongouanou, the stronghold of Pascal Affi N’Guessan, 200 kilometres north of Abidjan.
A curfew was imposed and mediations were organised, allowing a relative return to calm.
However, on Monday, some access to the city remained blocked by roadblocks. “The situation is still very tense. If nothing is done, it will be difficult to organise an election here. Every time there are political tensions at the national level, they turn into conflicts between communities at the local level,” said one elected official.
The protest against Ouattara’s third term in office has already resulted in about 20 deaths. The distribution of voter cards by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) was disrupted in 16 localities, forcing the authorities to relocate it to the gendarmerie compound.
Opposition Disavowed by ECOWAS
These events occurred as a new ECOWAS delegation, led by Ghana’s Foreign Minister, Shirley Ayorkor Botchway, was completing its mission.
After meeting with the Ivorian Head of State, the Prime Minister, the Minister of Security, as well as the other presidential candidates – Henri Konan Bédié, Affi N’Guessan and Kouadio Konan Bertin -, ECOWAS issued a statement in which it said it had “noted the continuing mistrust of candidates and political actors” and “the persistence of points of divergence regarding the electoral process.
The mission also “urged the PDCI [Democratic Party of Côte d’Ivoire] and FPI [Ivorian Popular Front] candidates to seriously reconsider the decision to boycott the election and the call for their supporters to engage in civil disobedience to protest the electoral process,” and encouraged them instead to “work seriously to reach a consensus since they may not be able to control the excesses that would result from their call.
At the end of her meeting with Prime Minister Hamed Bakayoko, the Ghanaian head of diplomacy also called on opposition activists not to allow themselves to be used “to perpetrate acts of violence, such as blocking roads. “These are criminal activities. In a democracy, if the people must be able to express themselves, it is through the vote,” she continued, dismissing the hypothesis of a postponement of the vote.
Statements that sound like a form of disavowal for the opposition, whose main leaders must reconvene.
On Sunday, Bédié asked for the “personal involvement” of the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, “in the resolution of the serious political crisis that still shakes [the] country,” accusing Ouattara of not wanting to “listen to anyone” and refusing “any dialogue.
“The opposition is caught in its own trap. It indirectly incites violence and illegal modes of action. And for everyone, the use of violence is a red line,” says a diplomat in Abidjan.
Ouattara On The Offensive
Reassured in his position by West African diplomacy, the Ivorian president continues his campaign.
On Sunday Ouattara met with the traditional chieftaincy in Man. As was the case in Bouaké two days earlier, the head of state then complained about his opponents.
“We are four candidates, but there are two who are still hesitating. I am told that they don’t have enough money for the campaign. We’re going to ask the Minister of Finance to give them credit. They talk about dialogue, yesterday the Prime Minister invited them to dialogue, but not all of them came…. They know that if they come to the election, they will be largely defeated. They will be humiliated and that’s what they’re trying to avoid,” he said.
Further proof that while indirect contact with Bédié is not impossible, the chances of seeing the positions move closer are diminishing by the day.
Eleven days before the election, is the time for dialogue over?
