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Tsvangirai warns against 'another Ivory Coast'
31 Aug 2011 at 11:33hrs | Views
Abuja - Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai on Wednesday urged Nigeria and the African Union to help ensure his country does not become "another Ivory Coast" amid disagreement over upcoming elections.
Tsvangirai made the comments to journalists after meeting with Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan here.
"I am just updating him so that they can play a more active role in ensuring that we can go to the elections next year hopefully in a free and fair manner so that we put a closure to the dispute in Zimbabwe," he said.
"I was requesting President Jonathan to play a much more active role. Nigeria and the brother AU must be involved actively in support of the SADC initiative, but also to ensure that we don't have a repeat of another Ivory Coast."
SADC is the Southern African Development Community.
Zimbabwe's long-time leader Robert Mugabe and Tsvangirai share power as president and prime minister in a tense unity government formed under a SADC-brokered deal after a flawed 2008 vote which pushed the country into crisis.
The pair have disagreed on a date for new polls, with Mugabe insisting on this year while Tsvangirai wants reforms first.
November elections in Ivory Coast led to a five-month standoff and two weeks of full-out war sparked by Laurent Gbagbo's refusal to concede to Alassane Ouattara.
Tsvangirai made the comments to journalists after meeting with Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan here.
"I am just updating him so that they can play a more active role in ensuring that we can go to the elections next year hopefully in a free and fair manner so that we put a closure to the dispute in Zimbabwe," he said.
"I was requesting President Jonathan to play a much more active role. Nigeria and the brother AU must be involved actively in support of the SADC initiative, but also to ensure that we don't have a repeat of another Ivory Coast."
Zimbabwe's long-time leader Robert Mugabe and Tsvangirai share power as president and prime minister in a tense unity government formed under a SADC-brokered deal after a flawed 2008 vote which pushed the country into crisis.
The pair have disagreed on a date for new polls, with Mugabe insisting on this year while Tsvangirai wants reforms first.
November elections in Ivory Coast led to a five-month standoff and two weeks of full-out war sparked by Laurent Gbagbo's refusal to concede to Alassane Ouattara.
Source - Sapa
