Cote D'Ivoire President Laurent Gbagbo Jan 11, 2011Threats of military intervention in Cote D’Ivoire by international parties following Laurent Gbagbo's refusal to step down from the presidency are ‘pushing the country on a treacherous path to a precipice of war’, argues Mawuli Dake.
As the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), France, the African Union (AU) and the United Nations (UN) continue to beat war drums over Cote D’Ivoire, they are pushing the country on a treacherous path to a precipice of war. From all indications, the actions of these international actors are based on two precarious grounds – as though the fact of Laurent Gbagbo’s despicable conduct amounts to an unconditional justification for any form intervention; and as though the most important consideration for African leaders in this crisis is sacrosanct obligation to ‘prove something to the international community’. Could we not be witnessing another historic foreign policy blunder in the making?
