ANGOLA: PM SECURES MALI, BURKINA FASO's BACKING

                                                       Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga

Prime Minister Raila Odinga will this afternoon hold talks with President José Eduardo dos Santos of Angola in Luanda, the country’s capital on the developments in Ivory Coast after securing the backing of three West African states whose stand is viewed as critical to the next course of action by the international community on Mr Laurent Gbagbo
Mr Odinga left Ouagadougou, the capital city of Burkina Faso this morning after talks with President Blaise Compaoré on Ivory Coast. The PM had flown to Burkina Faso last evening from Mali where he is to hold more talks with President Amadou Toumani Touré.
Later this evening, the PM will be in Pretoria, South Africa for discussions with President Jacob Zuma.
Mr Odinga described his meeting with the leaders from the West Africa region very productive.
In meetings held yesterday, the presidents of Burkina Faso and Mali separately endorsed the position taken by the African Union and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on Ivory Coast. They also endorsed the conditions spelt out for Mr Laurent Gbagbo by the AU mediator Mr Odinga.
He said the West African states that operate under the Communauté Financière d'Afrique ("Financial Community of Africa), will be meeting on Saturday to discuss removing Mr Laurent Gbagbo as a signatory to the Central Bank of the member states.
The countries operating within the West African Economic and Monetary Union and the CFA currency do not run individual central banks. Instead, they rely on the Central Bank of the West African States), located in Dakar, Senegal.
Mr Gbagbo’s removal as a signatory with the bank will begin the crippling of his regime, which has been declared illegitimate.
Mr Odinga embarked on a shuttle diplomacy yesterday after failing to secure a deal with Mr Gbagbo. His first stop was Ghana, where he made a significant breakthrough when President John Atta Mills threw his country’s weight behind the efforts by the Africa Union and ECOWAS to resolve the election dispute, including a possible use of force in Ivory Coast.
President John Atta Mills told AU mediator, Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga, that Ghana would support the position taken by ECOWAS on the situation in Ivory Coast. He said his government would agree to use of force only as a last resort.
Mr Odinga said his aim is to brief the heads of state on the situation in Ivory Coast and why they need to support the position taken by ECOWAS and the AU.
Ghana had been reported to be opposed to use of force in the Ivory Coast. It had also been reported that the country was not keen to take sides in the standoff in Abidjan.
But at the meeting today, President Mills told Mr Odinga that he would support settlement of the dispute in a peaceful way, with force being the means of last resort.
Mills however said he would not be able to contribute any more troops for Ivory Coast mission should need arise to use force.
Ghana already has troops in Liberia, Ivory Coast, Sudan, DR Congo and Lebanon and feels over stretched.
The PM, who is scheduled to return to Nairobi tomorrow, will be hosted to dinner this evening by President Zuma.

　
TheAfricanVoice Team

  Nairobi