Mbeki slams Togo 'charade'
2005-02-11 15:03
Cape Town - South African President Thabo Mbeki on Friday criticised the "unconstitutional charade" in Togo and said it underscored the need to do more to resolve the crisis in Ivory Coast.
In his annual state of the nation address, Mbeki said it was his "fervent wish" that leaders in Ivory Coast settle their differences and that a presidential election be held in October "in a unified country".
"The current unconstitutional charade in Togo, following the death of President Eyadema, which Ecowas (West African countries) and the African Union are confronting firmly, adds to the instability in west Africa," said Mbeki in the address delivered at parliament in Cape Town.
"This must communicate the message to the people of Cote d'Ivoire and the rest of our continent that everything must be done to solve the Ivorian crisis, given the importance of this country, which has the third largest economy in sub-Saharan Africa," he said.
Mbeki has led mediation efforts for the African Union since November to resolve the crisis in Ivory Coast, a former French colony in west Africa that has been split since September 2002, when a military mutiny failed to topple President Laurent Gbagbo but left rebels controlling of the northern half of the country.
The two sides have been kept apart by United Nations and French peacekeepers.
West Africa suffered another blow to its stability this month when the military in Togo installed Faure Gnassingbe, the 39-year old son of Eyadema, who died following 38 years of tough rule.
The move drew worldwide condemnation and calls from the African Union for a return to constitutional rule in Togo.