“Côte d'Ivoire: Ouattara Calls for Banks to Clamp Down on Gbagbo” |
| Côte d'Ivoire: Ouattara Calls for Banks to Clamp Down on Gbagbo Posted: 15 Jan 2011 04:06 AM PST America.gov (Washington, DC) Charles W. Corey 14 January 2011 Washington — Speaking January 14 to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington via telephone from his headquarters at the Golf Hotel in Abidjan, Alassane Ouattara, the president of Côte d'Ivoire, said that as the president of all Ivorians, he does not want a civil war in his country. "It is not only the 54 percent who voted for me, but I am also the president of the 45 percent who did not vote for me. So, obviously, I do not want bloodshed." Asked if cutting off funding would help loosen Laurent Gbagbo's control of the state, Ouattara said his preference would be for continuation of personal and financial sanctions against Gbagbo, his family and close associates. He said decisions made by the regional Central Bank should be implemented fully. "As of today, this is not the case," he added. Ouattara alleged that, just a few days ago, Gbagbo's financial comptroller removed some $10 million from the Central Bank. Ouattara said this is an area where controls need to be tightened, and he called for the consideration of sanctions against the Central Bank. Local banks in Côte d'Ivoire, he said, should be directed to recognize only the Ouattara government. "Not all the local banks ... are doing that because some of the local banks are owned by Ivorians who are connected to people of the Gbagbo regime, and they continue to provide funds to Mr. Gbagbo and his group." He asked the United States and European countries to instruct their banks to recognize only the Ouattara government. Ouattara said his government is trying to cut off the flow of funds from coffee and cocoa revenues to the Gbagbo regime, but acknowledged that that is difficult because Gbagbo is using his security forces to intimidate companies and force them to continue making payments to his government. He said it is important to starve the Gbagbo regime of funds so it cannot pay mercenaries or international lobbyists who could lobby foreign governments in their favor. On the topic of global economic sanctions, Ouattara said he does not favor such a move because "this will hurt the Ivorian people. Clearly my duty is to protect the Ivorian people. I was elected on an economic program to help and to promote the well-being of the Ivorian people." Ouattara said his people are looking at the use of transport strikes and other such means to bring additional economic pressure on the Gbagbo regime. He said the end of the month is an "important benchmark" for economic pressure against the Gbagbo regime because government salaries are paid around the 20th of each month. During his campaign, Ouattara said he placed great emphasis on the need for reconciliation throughout his country because "we are getting out of some sort of apartheid" era, like South Africa experienced before the election of Nelson Mandela. "Despite all of these atrocities, despite the behavior of Mr. Gbagbo and the few people who surround him, I think the majority of the people who voted for him are now fed up with the way he is acting," Ouattara said. He added that he still wants to form a government that includes people from Gbagbo's party because "I want to govern with all Ivorians. I do not want to exclude a group of Ivorians because the crux of this crisis was the issue of exclusion." "Now that I have succeeded through democratic elections to be elected as president, my first priority is to ban exclusions and also to protect minorities," he said. He said his people have set up a 24-hour radio station broadcasting from his headquarters in the Golf Hotel and hope to have a television broadcast beamed soon. He accused the state-run television service of broadcasting "hate." In closing, Ouattara reminded everyone he is a democrat. "I know the system of democracy, of checks and balances, and really want Côte d'Ivoire to benefit from my experience. I will do everything to get out of this crisis peacefully and to show that democracy can be implemented in Africa, and that this will lead to economic growth, social growth, and that Africans will be proud of a country and a continent that is important to the rest of the world." Ouattara noted that it has been six weeks since the November 28, 2010, presidential election. "The suffering of the Ivorian people is just too great and the number of people being killed is unacceptable. I believe that it is really time to remove Mr. Gbagbo from office," he said. Ouattara, who won the presidential election with 54 percent of the vote, said there will be a meeting January 18 in Bamako, Mali, and another meeting with the Economic Community of West African States heads of state at the end of January to determine a future course of action. Expanding his comments on the use of force, Ouattara said that -- as a "man of peace" -- he believes that it is only through peace that you can have development AllAfrica - All the Time This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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