'You can't be judge and judged'

2005-09-23 09:36

United Nations - Ivory Coast's United Nations envoy on Thursday questioned the impartiality of the Ecowas West African regional bloc in handling his country's crisis and called on the UN Security Council to step in.

As Ecowas announced a summit of its leaders late this month to discuss a way out of the crisis, Ivory Coast's ambassador Philippe Djangone-Bi pointed out that the grouping had previously failed in its mediation.

"We're almost out of the tunnel. Why then try to take us back to the first level which failed," he told reporters.

"If you failed and the case is taken to an upper jurisdiction, what competence do you have to be referred to again," he noted, adding that Ecowas "had failed for obvious reasons, one of them being that you cannot be the judge and the judged."

Conflict of interest

He claimed that several Ecowas members had "a direct conflict of interest and in some cases an implied involvement in the Ivorian conflict" and therefore lacked impartiality.

The Ivorian envoy named Burkina Faso and Mali, saying they along with an unnamed "Western power" - a reference to France, Ivory Coast's former colonial ruler - had been found to be backing Ivorian rebels who control the mostly-Muslim north of Ivory Coast.

He also said the decision to refer the Ivorian dossier back to Ecowas had been hastily made by a small minority of Ecowas leaders on the margins of the UN summit earlier this month.

Nigeria's President Olusegun Obasanjo, the current African Union chairman, has backed Ecowas involvement.

Djangone-Bi rejected suggestions that the AU-mandated mediation of South African President Thabo Mbeki was over and said Pretoria had clearly stated that the Ivorian rebels' refusal to disarm was the main reason for the impasse.

"(Ivorian) President Laurent Gbagbo has done his share of the sacrifices (required by Mbeki) in the name of peace. Now it is up to the Security Council to take its responsibilities and put pressure where it is needed so that we move forward," he said.

Ivorian rebels accused Mbeki of having ulterior motives of economic expansionism, giving biased rulings and reportedly selling arms to Gbagbo's government.

They want Gbagbo to step down and play no part in a political transition.

On Tuesday, the South African presidency said there was "no truth to the reports" that Mbeki had been asked to step down as mediator.

"It is quite clear that there are forces that are bent on seeking the perpetuation of the destabilisation in the region," said the statement.

The UN Security Council announced on Wednesday that the president of its sanctions committee is to visit Ivory Coast, in a further step toward imposing individual sanctions against people suspected of blocking the peace process in the West African nation.

The Security Council has imposed an embargo on arms to Ivory Coast, which has been divided in two since a brief civil war in 2003, and can also activate at any time sanctions against some Ivorian personalities deemed an obstacle to peace.

- AFP