A ministerial mission of ECOWAS in Côte d'Ivoire to attempt mediation
Shirley Ayorkor Botchway, Ghanaian Minister of Foreign Affairs (here August 20, 2019 in Moscow) leads an ECOWAS ministerial delegation to Côte d'Ivoire.
AP Photo / Alexander Zemlianichenko
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
A ministerial mission from ECOWAS arrived in Côte d'Ivoire to meet the various political actors.
The opposition no longer recognized the legitimacy of the institutions in charge of organizing and validating the ballot, scheduled for October 31, and demanded the withdrawal of the candidacy of outgoing President Alassane Ouattara for a third term.
Will this international mediation allow the different parties to find common ground?
Hope is slim according to specialists.
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With our correspondent in Abidjan,
François Hume-Ferkatadji
About 200 opposition activists gathered in front of the residence of PDCI president Henri Konan Bédié to welcome the ECOWAS delegation.
One way to put pressure on the mediators responsible for finding a way out of the crisis, before the election on October 31.
The opposition
wanted to receive the presidents of Ghana and Nigeria, it was finally a ministerial delegation, led by the head of Ghanaian diplomacy Shirley Botchway, who met the two main opponents and candidates, Henri Konan Bédié and Pascal Affi N ' Guessan.
Nothing filtered out of this meeting which lasted a little over an hour.
After a first visit ten days ago, the diplomats of the West African organization must once again try to resolve a political problem that seems inextricable.
According to analyst Sylvain N'Guessan, mediation has little chance of success.
“
The internal balance of power is to the advantage of RHDP,
” he said.
According to him, the ruling party will use this diplomatic and financial advantage to win the presidential election in the first round.
But RHDP executives could engage with the international community to open the political game after the presidential election, he judges, for the legislative elections scheduled for next spring in particular.
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