Ghana denies UN report on Ivory Coast

The government has launched an investigation into the United Nations report suggesting that exiled people supporting Cote d’Ivoire’s former President Laurent Gbagbo have established a base in Ghana to destabilise the Ivorian government.

“There is the need for us to thoroughly investigate these allegations that have been lurking around now and then,” the National Security Coordinator, Lt Col Larry Gbevlo-Lartey, told the Daily Graphic in response to the latest media reports.

Ghana has, on countless occasions, denied any involvement in skirmishes to destabilise its neighbours.

The National Security Coordinator told the Daily Graphic that what happened in the border town of Noe in Cote d’Ivoire “was purely an internal Ivorian matter and Ghana has no hand in it”.

He reiterated the government’s resolve not to allow anybody or group of persons to use any part of Ghana’s territory to destabilise any country, especially Cote d’Ivoire, and denied media reports that the incident happened on the Ghana-Cote d’Ivoire border.

Last September, President John Dramani Mahama used the platform of the UN General Assembly to assure the international community of the government’s commitment to strictly abide by all international laws and protocols that enjoined countries to respect the sovereignty of other nations.

Cote d’Ivoire is recovering from months of political unrest after disputed elections in November 2010. An estimated 3,000 people died in the fighting that followed the disputed polls.

Then President Gbagbo refused to concede defeat to then candidate Ouattara, who eventually ousted his rival with the help of former rebel forces, the UN and Cote d’Ivoire’s former colonial power, France.

Mr Gbagbo is currently in The Hague, awaiting trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC) on charges of crimes against humanity.

The latest report authored by United Nations expert panel stated that “the supporters of Gbagbo, who is in The Hague awaiting trial for crimes against humanity, have a ‘military structure’, have hired mercenaries in Ghana and Liberia and have established several training camps in Eastern Liberia”.

Source: Daily Graphic

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