It is an accurate statement that democracy has been assassinated in Côte d'Ivoire. Africa has been experiencing such hooliganism by incumbent presidents for far too long. The vanguished are helpless and left alone with very little means and capacity to assume power when the loser assumes the Presidency. What makes it hard for African countries to take decisive action against illegitimate presidents is that the majority of current crop of African leaders are just as guilty of having come to power through crooked means, either by rigged elections or by military power to legitimize their position.
The so called strong-man of Ivory Coast has been holding on to power that he does not deserve. He lost elections and there is no justification for his continued hang on to power. It is clear that African countries lack goodwill and commitment to strengthening democracy and miserably failed to intervene. At the moment Alassane Ouattara appears to be alone in the sense that the majority of African leaders are merely paying lip-service. The longer the standoff lasts, chances of removing the illegal president from office get slim. Losing incumbents must not be given a platform for negotiations. A military is the must be used as the only non-negotiable option when a losing incumbent refuses to relinguish power such as the case is with Laurent Gbagbo.
The fiasco that has unfolded in Ivory Coast bares similarities to what happened in Zimbabwe when the opposition won the elections but Mugabe refused to step down. However, due to opposition's desperation and probably because of their hunger for power allowed Mugabe to bulldoze them until they accepted power sharing. How does one in their right sense accept power sharing with a losing incumbent or party. Such occurrences are becoming common in Africa where greed is the order of the day. It's a wonder how long Ouattara will continue to reject overtures for power sharing with Gbagbo given the lack of resolve from the rest of Africa to support him. Africa needs to turn a new page and adopt uprightness in the manner in which politics are run.
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