Lome, Togo — A leading Ivorian rebel spokesman has accused the government of Ghana of providing military support to the Cote d'Ivoire authorities and of allowing its territory, at the northwest border, to be used by troops loyal to President Laurent Gbagbo, to launch attacks on rebel positions at Bouna across the frontier.
At a news conference on Sunday night in the Togolese capital, Lome - where rival Ivorian government and rebel delegations are attending peace negotiations - the secretary-general of the rebel MPCI (Patriotic Movement of Cote d'Ivoire), Guillaume Kigbafori Soro, made these allegations.
The rebel accusations were immediately rejected by the Ghanaian authorities, backed by the Ivorian government delegation leader, Laurent Dona Fologo. He also held a hastily organised news briefing in Lome, late on Sunday, defending Ghana and refuting the rebel declarations against his government and Ghana.
"If we wanted to resume hostilities, we would not be in Lome," said Gbagbo's chief negotiator in Togo. "It is out of the question - and will remain out of the question - to resume hostilities, because the Ivorian government does not want another drop of blood to be shed on our territory; there has already been enough damage," Fologo told reporters.
In reaction to the rebel claims, the Ghanaian Defence Minister, Kwame Addo Kufuor, said his country would never do anything to derail the peace process in Cote d'Ivoire nor take sides in the Ivorian dispute.
The MPCI said Ghana was playing a dangerous game which violated one of the resolutions of the a regional summit of the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) held in Accra, Ghana on September 29, a week after the uprising began in Cote d'Ivoire.
Soro told the Accra government that, instead of encouraging war, it should rather contribute to strengthening the negotiations taking place in Lome, in the search for a negotiated political settlement to the Cote d'Ivoire crisis.
Interviewed by telephone from Accra, Ghana's minister of foreign affairs, Hackman Owusu Agyemang, told AllAfrica's Ofeibea Quist-Arcton that President John Kufuor was shocked by the MPCI's allegations.
What is your response to the accusations by the rebel Patriotic Movement of Cote d'Ivoire (MPCI) that Ghana has provided up to 100 troops to President Laurent Gbagbo's loyalist forces and that you are allowing your territory to be used as a base to attack rebel positions across your northwest border?
Our response is one of complete amazement and the alleged statement is a complete fabrication with absolutely no substance.
Ghana has always stood for peaceful resolution of the conflict, for a political solution and has, at all points in time, encouraged both the president of the republic of Cote d'Ivoire and the insurgents to sit at the table and find a peaceful political solution to the crisis.
So do you deny the MPCI rebel declaration made by the secretary-general, Guillaume Soro, on Sunday night in Lome?
Ghana has been at the forefront of assisting in the efforts of Ecowas and the contact group on this line of action. It is therefore very strange and absolutely without any foundation to suggest that the president of Ghana, Mr Kufuor, would ever grant passage for any force to use Ghana as a conduit to attack the forces of the MPCI from the north.
Furthermore, it borders on absurdity to think that President Kufuor would send 70 men to assist in the fight against the MPCI. Indeed, what the president has done has been publicly and quietly to advocate for a conference, a meeting, dialogue between President Gbagbo and the major political players in Cote d'Ivoire.
President John Kufuor and President Laurent Gbagbo are known to enjoy neighbourly relations and recently President Kufuor travelled to Cote d'Ivoire to see his Ivorian counterpart, do you think the rebels might have been suspicious of this visit?
President Kufuor made a special trip to Cote d'Ivoire recently to press home this point about promoting dialogue (about ten days ago). It was a quiet trip to Cote d'Ivoire to underscore this point. I can even claim that, based on that, the first outcome of that consultation was the declaration of President Gbagbo in favour of a constitutional referendum which we believe is one of the processes for achieving a lasting political solution in Cote d'Ivoire.
Ghana has always stood by Ecowas, Ghana will also stand by the decision to seek a peaceful solution to the crisis in Cote d'Ivoire.
Why do you think such accusations should be levelled at the Accra government? And often, as they say, there is no smoke without fire...What do you think prompted such a declaration by the Ivorian rebels? Have there been unusual (troop) movements at the border?
We deny in the most uncertain terms, absolutely, and there is no basis for the allegations of the MPCI and Ghana is willing to make available to all who are interested to come and verify whether any troops have transited Ghana and whether any Ghanaian troops are involved in any way with any of the warring parties in Cote d'Ivoire.
What we have done is to give safe passage to those who have been traumatised by the recent happenings in Cote d'Ivoire of Burkinabe nationality, of Malian nationality and of Niger nationality. And we have done everything possible to grant safe passage for these refugees to traverse our territory. And each time we have checked, through our security forces, that these are bona fide refugees, mainly women and children, and there has been no semblance of any combatants in the convoys of buses that have been conveying these people across Ghana to Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger
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We want to assure the world, we want to assure Ecowas and the MPCI that Ghana has done nothing of the sort as is claimed in the MPCI press release and would never do anything that went against the Accra Accord. Ghana, and its president John Kufuor, is a peace-loving nation and we will jealously guard that reputation that we have. And such fabrications and utterances, by who ever, will not in any way stop our efforts in the search for true and lasting peace in Cote d'Ivoire. And this is a major disservice to the efforts by all heads of state, vigorously supported by the president of Ghana.
In that case, why would the rebels choose this time to make these allegations, if you say they are without foundation?
That is what I say. It borders on absurdity. We have no idea why such an accusation should be made against Ghana. There is not a single iota of truth in any of the assertions. That is why I am assuring the international community that we have never done any such thing and will never do any such thing. The time now has come for all and sundry to help find a solution but not to inflame passions in such a delicate situation.
We invite whoever is interested to come and verify things for themselves on the ground in Ghana.
