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| Dr Susungi |
Let me start by telling you a true story. In 1996 Chairman John Fru
Ndi travelled through Abidjan to Mali to attend some socialist meeting
there with President Alpha Oumar Konare and Ibrahim Boubacar Keita (who
is now the President) (both of them socialists). On his way back he got
stuck at the airport in Abidjan because he did not have a visa to Cote
d’Ivoire. While killing time at the airport he was noticed by an
Ivorian policeman because he was wearing his trademark traditional
dress. When the Chairman explained his visa status to the policeman,
the officer reported the matter to his boss. Before long, the matter
had been transmitted through channels to the highest ranks of the police
to the Minister of the Interior and finally to President Henri Konan
Bédié.
President Bédié reacted by giving instructions that the Chairman
should be given a visa and brought into Abidjan as a guest of the
Ivorian government. He was lodged at Hotel Ivoire. Before long the
Chairman was brought to President Bédié’s home in Cocody where he was
received by the Ivorian President.
During his meeting “en tête a tête”, with Chairman John Fru Ndi, the Ivorian President called Laurent Gbagbo ( at that time President of the FPI) and said: “Hey Laurent, j’ai ton ami Fru Ndi avec moi dans mon bureau. Je te l’envoie après”.
In spite of the fact that Henri Konan Bédié and Laurent Gbagbo were
political adversaries, the strange camaraderie between them illustrates
the fact that politics in Cote d’Ivoire was still being played at a
certain level of parliamentary honour.
I speak as a witness to these events and to the fact that the FPI and
the SDF are close political parties and that the relationship between
the John Fru Ndi and Laurent Gbagbo has been close. President Laurent
Gbagbo came to power on 26 October 2000 following the presidential
elections which were organized by Robert Guéi. But the traumatic events
which were to trail Cote d’Ivoire for ten years started with the
attempted coup of 19 September 2002 which gave rise to a rebellion that
resulted in the country being split into two. There is no question
about the fact that Mr. Soro Guillaume Kigbafori was a central part of
that rebellion.
Following a series of conferences and peace talks in various African
cities, a Union Government was formed at the head of which Mr. Soro
Guilllaume was named Prime Minister and head of a government by
President Laurent Gbagbo himself and he occupied that position from 4
April 2007 to 4 December 2010. This is the government composition
which went to the contested presidential elections of November 2010
following which Soro Guillaume resigned as Prime Minister in the ensuing
electoral dispute. After Alassane Ouattara was sworn in as President
on 6 May 2011, Mr. Soro Guillaume resumed the position of Prime Minister which he occupied till 13 March 2012 under Alassane Ouattara.
It is dangerous for us as foreigners (non-Ivorians) to go back to the
question of who won and who lost that election of November 2010 because
it is a historical fact that the electoral dispute was finally
adjudicated only after the French army pounded the residence of Ivorian
President for over two weeks until President Laurent Gbagbo was taken
out alive on 6 April 2011. He was finally sent to the Hague to face
charges at the ICC after the current President Alassane Ouattara had
been sworn-in as the President of the Republic of Cote d’Ivoire.
Subsequent parliamentary elections resulted in the emergence of Mr.
Soro Guillaume Kigbafori as the new President of the National Assembly.
It is very dangerous for us as non Ivorians to go back to labeling
anyone as “rebel”. I need not remind you that for a long time certain
countries called Nelson Mandela a “terrorist” because of what he had to
do at a certain stage of his life. This brings us to the question as to
the moral and political justification of the position of the SDF in
response to the invitation to the National Assembly in Cameroon.
The Visit of Soro Guillaume to Cameroon
I am of the opinion that the SDF made a mistake in taking such a
public position against the visit of Soro Guilllaume in the capacity of
the President of the Ivorian National Assembly and instructing its
deputies to walk out on the speech of the Ivorian leader. To
characterize Soro Guillaume as a “Chief Rebel” is a mistake. He is now
the President of the National Assembly and an integral part of
constituted authority in the Republic of Cote d’Ivoire. This does not
call on anyone to like him or to love him. It calls on everyone to
acknowledge and to respect the office because Cote d’Ivoire is a nation
that is above Soro Guillaume, Alassane Ouattara, Konan Bédié and Laurent
Gbagbo or any other person who might, at one time or another, be
called upon by political circumstances to occupy any of the
constitutional offices of the land.
It was not necessary for the SDF NEC to pass a resolution distancing
itself from the visit of Soro Guillaume to the National Assembly. There
are certain political situations which call for a response at a
statesman level rather than at a streetsman level. The SDF could have
intervened with Cavaye Djibrill the President of the National Assembly
to negotiate for a private visit to the Chairman by Soro Guillaume as a
condition for the SDF MPs to remain in the Assembly Hall during Soro
Guillaume’s speech. This visit would have enabled Mr Soro Guillaume
to brief the Chairman John Fru Ndi on the purpose of his visit and it
would have also given the Chairman the opportunity to let Mr. Soro
Guilllaume know what the SDF thinks about the events that took place in
Cote d’Ivoire. It would have been a very suitable occasion for the SDF
to call for the release of all political prisoners in Cote d’Ivoire and
to summon the Ivorian authorities to do more for reconciliation. If all
of this had been done, Mr. Soro Guillaume would have left Cameroon with
a completely different view of Cameroonian democracy and the SDF would
have emerged the real beneficiary of the visit of Soro Guillaume to
Cameroon. Cameroon/ Cote d’Ivoire relations would have been put at a
completely different level.
But the SDF decision has put them in a corner and they have emerged
gaining nothing out of their approach in handling this event. In fact
they are the big losers. I can state with full authority that Laurent
Gbagbo will be of the opinion that the SDF made a mistake in handling
the matter the way they did. If consulted, Laurent Gbagbo would have
encouraged Chairman John Fru Ndi to receive Soro Guillaume who is a mere
42 year old young man, holding a very important position in his
country. He wants to reach out and talk to people in a country like
Cameroon where most senior positions in the country are still held by
much older people. That is why more and more Ivorian leaders are coming
to Cameroon. If the Chairman had remembered the way that President
Henri Konan Bédié received him in 1996, I am sure that he would have
handled the Soro Guillaume visit in a different way.
How to repair the damage
There are certain mistakes which are difficult to correct and we
should strive to avoid making them. But any mistake can be corrected
once it is acknowledged that it was a mistake. The SDF needs to move
quickly to repair the damage. If anyone is interested in knowing how to
repair the damage, let them contact me.
When News Breaks Out, We Break In. (The 2014 Bloggies Finalist)
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