The Executive Director of Danquah Institute, Gabby Asare Otchere Darko, is asking President John Mills to tell Ghanaians whether or not he would pullout Ghanaian peacekeepers in Cote d’Ivoire should war break out there. The president on January 7 told journalists that Ghana would be unable to commit troops to support a military intervention in the Ivorian crisis because the nation was overstretched. He also said he did not think a military intervention would secure a solution to the Ivorian stand-off, engendered by the refusal of incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo to step down after polls his opponent, Allasane Ouattara was widely thought to have won. According to President Mills, Ghana has 500 troops in Cote d’Ivoire as part of a UN force protecting the UN-backed Alansane Ouatarra. President Mills’ statement attracted criticisms from especially members of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) who said he had sought to undermine the Economic Community of African States (ECOWAS) – which unanimously decided to opt for a military intervention should mediation fail in resolving the impasse. On Metro TV’s Good Morning Ghana programme Tuesday, Gabby Otchere Darko who is also a staunch member of the NPP was commenting on contents of a letter published by the two state dailies of Daily Graphic and The Ghanaian Times asserting that the President’s position has been vindicated. According to the letter, a report sent by The Head Of Ghana’s Permanent Mission to The United Nations for the attention of the Minister of Foreign Affairs indicates that the Africa Group of Ambassadors at the UN has described the military option to the crisis in Cote d'Ivoire as a ‘no option’. But Gabby says he finds it “extremely doubtful” that what is stated in the letter is the position of the African Group within the UN Security Council. He said information available to him indicates that at least the stance as portrayed in the purported letter is not the position of Nigeria and that the letter “appears to be a very desperate propaganda work to me and I think it will end up even digging deeper the trench that already Ghana is in, in terms of its isolated position on the collective position of ECOWAS.” Mr Otchere Darko further explained that whatever position taken by the African Group of Ambassadors represents the exact position of their countries, therefore he wondered why President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria who is also chairman of the ECOWAS said to President Raila Odinga of Kenya on Sunday that “We [ECOWAS] have not changed the position we took during our last summit” while his country’s representative at the AU supports a ‘no military option’ as reported by the said letter. For Gabby, ECOWAS has always been consistent in its position, again quoting President Jonathan as saying “the use of force will depend on the outcome of a series of meetings to be held with stakeholders of Cote d’Ivoire. “That is why I think the President’s unsolicited view on the use of troops was very unfortunate, undiplomatic and actually undermining the collective position of West Africa,” he said. He added: “I think this letter that has been put on the front page of the Graphic and the Times would end up causing Ghana more embarrassment than actually vindicating the President.” According to Gabby, “there are about 26 elections in Africa this year alone and among this 19 is for a change of government”, therefore, “it is important that a clear message is sent across [using the Ivory Coast situation].” “I want the President to answer one question, respectfully, if you don’t mind: already he says we have 500 troops in Cote d’Ivoire … now are we saying that if war were to break in Cote d’Ivoire we will pull those troops out?” [Read below contents of the letter by The Head Of Ghana’s Permanent Mission to The United Nations for the attention of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, which informed the publications.] Story by Dorcas Efe Mensah/myjoyonline.com/Ghana