US Deputy Secretary of the Council of African Affairs Johnnie Carson (file photo)The top diplomat on Africa place blame for Ivory Coast violence squarely on the shoulders of Laurent Gbagbo, who refused to accept defeat in the presidential election last November. The UN said Alassane Ouattara, as the elected President.
"Gbagbo's intransigence has aggravated tensions and provoked violence across the country." "He and his ministers have openly threatened to functioning of the Organization of the United Nations, which is responsible for protecting civilians caught between two fires", said the Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson. He met Tuesday at Wilson Center in Washington.
"Hundreds of thousands have been displaced," he said, "and violence last week probably pushed the number of dead in Ivory Coast to over a thousand people".
Carson said that it would be wrong to compare the Ivorian crisis with that of the Libya in terms of international response to protect civilians.
"For the past four months,"he has said, "the United States works closely with its African and other international partners to achieve a peaceful outcome of the Ivorian crisis." "". A robust international peacekeeping force is on the ground since 2002, starting first as the ECOWAS operation and then be converted in 2004 to an effort led by the United Nations. ?
ECOWAS is the economic community of West African States.
The head of the Department of State, said peacekeepers have prevented a "long and bloody civil war" such as those in Sierra Leone and Liberia.
Protect civilians
"We are in regular contact with President Ouattara and Prime Minister Soro to insist that the forces claiming to fight on their refrain for violence against civilians, looting and other excess." We are encouraged by the clear direction of Ouattara President and Prime Minister Soro to their forces to maintain the utmost respect for the civilian population and their calls for investigations transparent, international of all abuses of human rights reported"he says.
Over the weekend, we learned that approximately 800 civilians were killed in the Western Ivorian town of Duékoué. An investigation is underway. Pro-Ouattara forces have denied any responsibility.
Many Ivorian refugees now in the neighboring countries are so-called Gbagbo supporters.
Carson said: "We also raised our concerns about acts of violence committed by the forces of pro-Gbagbo which have taken place and alleged in various parts of C?te d'Ivoire." We have said clearly that the actors on all sides will be responsible for war crimes and other atrocities. ?
Don't forget to Nigeria
We must not forget the assistant Secretary of State said, despite the crisis in C?te d'Ivoire, in North Africa, the Middle East and the Japan, the importance of elections to come Nigerian. He said that elections in 2011 should bear no resemblance to those of 2007, which attracted charges of fraud and corruption in the victory of President Umar Musa Yar'Adua ' dua.
On Saturday, the independent National Electoral Commission [INEC] postponed elections to the National Assembly for a week because of "the late arrival of the sheets…central election result and integrity".
"The end of last week, Nigeria was held the first of a series of elections that will shape the direction of Africa's most populous and the second largest economy. Nigeria has no credible national elections since 1993. And to overcome this negative legacy remains an important challenge, Carson has.
He said at the United States agreed with delay and congratulated the President of the INEC, Professor Attahiru Jega, saying he brings integrity and competence of the position.
"However, we have seen this last weekend, one man can overcome important systemic and logistical challenges. No one person can turn around and transform a political culture in which the stolen elections have become the standard for decades, "he says.
The problems, said, creating the "possibility of political manipulation." And some politicians have acted to make good electoral control more difficult. ?
While this year, election violence is lower than that of 2007, Carson said, "any electoral violence is unacceptable." "" "And it casts a shadow on the whole of the electoral process."
President Nigeria Goodluck Jonathan has promised that the elections will be free and fair.
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