Mbeki ends Ivory Coast mediation role

ADDIS ABABA – South African President Thabo Mbeki has ended his mediation role in Ivory Coast’s political crisis and a regional body recommended that the heads of the African Union (AU) and a West African body replace him.

“President Mbeki’s mediation role in Cote d’Ivoire has ended upon his own request,” AU chairman Denis Sassou Nguesso said late on Tuesday. Mbeki’s spokesman Mukoni Ratshitanga said the decision was a direct result of South Africa’s election this month to the United Nations Security Council as a non-permanent member which he said could create a conflict with Mbeki’s mediation role.”When you are on the Security Council, it makes it more difficult for you to deal with a matter in which you are mediating,” Ratshitanga said.”We will not be seen as an impartial member of the Council.It’s in that context that the president felt we needed to relinquish that (mediation) position,” he added.The Security Council is due to consider recommendations by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the AU that Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo remain in office for another 12 months after a previous extension of his mandate failed to lead to elections scheduled for this month.Ivorian rebels had accused Mbeki of being biased and demanded the AU name a new mediator.The world’s top cocoa grower has been split into a rebel-held north and government-controlled south since a brief 2002/2003 civil war.A summit of African leaders at AU headquarters in Addis Ababa recommended extending Gbagbo’s term on Tuesday, backing a West African proposal to revive a stalled peace process.African leaders praised the South African president, whose country has taken a lead role in mediating in African conflicts.A report distributed at the summit said ECOWAS members had recommended to the AU that the heads of the two organisations should now lead mediation efforts in Ivory Coast.ECOWAS is headed by Niger President Mamadou Tandja.Sassou Nguesso, the AU chairman, is president of Congo Republic.Nampa-ReutersMbeki’s spokesman Mukoni Ratshitanga said the decision was a direct result of South Africa’s election this month to the United Nations Security Council as a non-permanent member which he said could create a conflict with Mbeki’s mediation role.”When you are on the Security Council, it makes it more difficult for you to deal with a matter in which you are mediating,” Ratshitanga said.”We will not be seen as an impartial member of the Council.It’s in that context that the president felt we needed to relinquish that (mediation) position,” he added.The Security Council is due to consider recommendations by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the AU that Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo remain in office for another 12 months after a previous extension of his mandate failed to lead to elections scheduled for this month.Ivorian rebels had accused Mbeki of being biased and demanded the AU name a new mediator.The world’s top cocoa grower has been split into a rebel-held north and government-controlled south since a brief 2002/2003 civil war.A summit of African leaders at AU headquarters in Addis Ababa recommended extending Gbagbo’s term on Tuesday, backing a West African proposal to revive a stalled peace process.African leaders praised the South African president, whose country has taken a lead role in mediating in African conflicts.A report distributed at the summit said ECOWAS members had recommended to the AU that the heads of the two organisations should now lead mediation efforts in Ivory Coast.ECOWAS is headed by Niger President Mamadou Tandja.Sassou Nguesso, the AU chairman, is president of Congo Republic.Nampa-Reuters