(NEWZIMBABWE) Gbagbo likens plight to Mugabe

Gbagbo likens plight to Mugabe
by Staff Reporter
27/12/2010 00:00:00

UNDER pressure Ivory Coast strongman, Laurent Gbagbo, has likened his plight to that of President Robert Mugabe and claimed Western countries led by former colonial power France and the United States were out to get him.

The former university professor said the threat by the regional ECOWAS grouping to forcibly remove him from office if he does not quit voluntarily was the result of a Western plot directed by France and the United States.

Gbagbo accuses Western ambassadors accredited to Abidjan of undermining Ivorian electoral procedures in order to propel his rival Alassane Ouattara into power.

"When you go through what I've been through, you tell yourself: 'Perhaps Mugabe wasn't completely wrong after all'," Gbagbo said on Sunday.

Mugabe lost the first round of the Presidential election in 2008 but went on to claim the run-off after long-time rival, Morgan Tsvangirai, pulled out accusing the veteran Zimbabwean leader of unleashing violence on his supporters.

The regional SADC grouping then chaperoned negotiations for a coalition government with Mugabe remaining President while Tsvangirai became the country’s prime minister.

Mugabe insists his rival is a Western stooge at the beck and call of former colonial power, Britain, and the United States who are keen to effect “regime change” in the country.

[And not 'just' Mugabe - it is clear to anyone with a brain that the MDC want to privatize the Zimbabwean state, and institute themselves as the new (old) elite of Zimbabwe. By contrast, the ZANU-PF brought the country to independence, introduced democracy, instituted universal healthcare and education (resulting in a 92% literacy rate among Zimbabweans, he highest in Africa), effectively redistributed the land stolen under colonialism and UDI, and demanded indigenisation (51% local ownership) as opposed to the MDC's privatisation (90% foreign ownership or more). It is not 'Mugabe' alone who says the MDC are western corporate stooges. - MrK]

Meanwhile, Gbagbo has vowed to cling onto power despite Ouattara being recognised as the victor in last month's presidential elections by UN vote monitors and world powers.

Gbagbo's supporters claim rebels based in the northern part of the country helped rig the vote in favour of Ouattara in the areas they still control.

The crisis was sparked when the country’s Constitutional Council agreed with his supporters’ allegations and annulled the votes from the north, leaving Gbagbo with a slender overall majority.

However, the United Nations, the African Union and the regional Ecowas grouping have backed Ouattara along with most Western countries.

ECOWAS leaders threatened, at the weekend, to use force to remove Gbagbo.

The former history professor said he took ECOWAS’ threat "seriously" but would never back down, while his lieutenants warned that any intervention could put the millions of West African migrants living in Ivory Coast in danger.