Ivory Coast does not have this luxury, as they battled a contentious outcome to their November election. Initially, Alassane Ouattara was declared winner, however evidence surfaced of possible voter fraud including ballot stuffing.
The Ivorian Constitutional Council (similar to the Supreme Court) overturned the election results, proclaiming incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo as the winner.
Stated in the article “UN And Muslim Militias Arrest Ivory Coast President” at www.newamerican.com written by Alex Newman the international community overruled the Ivorian Constitutional Council and declared Ouattara as winner.
“But despite the high court’s ruling, which is supposed to be the final word on national elections, the UN and various foreign governments insisted that Gbagbo step down. When he refused, the international body and the French government sent military forces to support Ouattara’s campaign to oust him by force.”
One Ivorian wondered off the record why can the United States Supreme Court mean something but not the Ivorian Supreme Court.
Ivorian Henri Ouraga, in his third year studying at St Cloud State, had spent numerous hours searching websites attempting to find out what was happening within his home country.
“I don’t want any one (International community) to take any sides in country affairs,” said Ouraga. “Because in Africa everyone cheats on election. I can’t say who really one. I’m against killings. I want(ed) United States to do as Russia...”
The US followed a separate path than Russia, which I’ll mention in a moment. The US took a side believing that Ouattara was the proper winner of the election and that Gbagbo needed to step down.
“When the crisis in the Ivory Coast started to unfold…the entire upper level of the administration was engaged," Carson noted. "President Obama called President Gbagbo not once, but twice." The phone calls, he said, were followed by a letter to Gbagbo, which offered him refuge in the United States and a fellowship at a prestigious university in exchange for his resignation.” Quoted in http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=55140
Senator James Imholfe Thoughts
Not every individual in the United States government agreed with the side taken by President Obama’s administration. Oklahoma Senator James Imholfe has been to Ivory Coast nine times and personally knew Gbagbo.
“Inhofe, who has been calling for the State Department to investigate what he asserts was massive fraud in the election that eventually brought Alassane Ouattara to power, took to the Senate floor on Tuesday to decry the treatment of Gbagbo and his wife, Simone. He called on the Obama administration to reverse its support for Ouattara and he showed several gruesome photos of the violence in the commercial capital of Abidjan as evidence that U.N. and French troops fighting on Ouattara's side were ‘killing untold hundreds of thousands of people,’ stated in a story written by Josh Rogin for Foreign Policy on April 13.”
Elischeba Balle, third year SCSU student, from Ivory Coast spoke about hearing from a fellow Ivorian how France was bombing their home land and wishes they would leave.
“We thought that the United Nations and France were going to be mediators and neutral forces,” Balle said. “I thought we (Ivory Coast) were independent.”
Russia
According to the article “Russia criticizes UN force role in Ivory Coast” by Alexei Anishchuk Russia disagrees with the forcefulness the United Nations and France have taken in the Ivory Coast disagreements.
“Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday U.N. peacekeepers had taken sides in the conflict in Ivory Coast and called this a ‘very dangerous tendency.’
A U.N. resolution on Ivory Coast ‘speaks of the use of U.N. forces, but not in order to support one of the sides in the conflict,’ Medvedev told reporters in China after a summit of emerging market nations. ‘The United Nations cannot take sides, but that is de facto what happened,’ he said. ‘We have serious questions for the U.N. leadership. I think this is a very dangerous tendency,’ said Medvedev, whose nation has veto power as a permanent U.N. Security Council member.”
This statement brings an interesting biblical dilemma, which much of the world powers may have ignored considering many of the world powers may not seek truth from the Bible.
Proverbs 26:17 says “Like one who seizes a dog by the ears is a passer- by who meddles in a quarrel not his own.”
Could France, the United States and United Nations be creating strife in the hearts of individuals from the Ivory Coast by meddling in a situation they do not understand?
In the next installment I’ll discuss the religious differences between the two Presidents. Here is Part 3.