Embattled Ivorian President, Laurent Gbagbo, has lauded President John Evans Atta Mills' stance that Ghana cannot contribute to an ECOWAS military intervention force in Cote d'Ivoire as a wise decision taken in the interest of peace. "He is a wise man; he has taken a very good decision that his country intervention in Cote d'lvoire. This is in the spirit of the creation of the Organisation of African Unity in the 1960s and the African Union (AU) in 2000," he stated. He said President Mills had taken a decision that matched common sense and asked whether those advocating military intervention were prepared to kill their own people in a war, as there were a number of ECOWAS citizens in Cote d'lvoire. President Gbagbo, who was speaking on TV Africa's The Bare Facts, hosted by Mr Kwesi Pratt Jnr., last night questioned the rationale behind putting up a military force to impose democracy on Cote d'Ivoire when there were a number of countries in Africa with leaders who had come to power through coups d'etat. "With the coups around the continent, are they going to send troops to all those places?" he asked. President Gbagbo said the military intervention being threatened by ECOWAS was misplaced because when, in 2002, his country was attacked by rebel forces, ECOWAS failed to put up an army to help it. "They would have been credible if they had done that," he said. "Do they know the implication of such a decision? In Africa, we have many countries with post-election crises. There are even countries where people win elections by 80 or 90 per cent. If we are to use military force in all those places, then the entire continent will be on fire," he went on. Mr Gbagbo, who spoke through an interpreter, said, "I am surprised that the same people asking for such an action now could not raise an army to defend me in 2002. They are remote-controlled by external forces." He said instead of threats of military intervention, ECOWAS should emulate President Mills's example and take a wise decision that would save Cote d'Ivoire from the current crisis which, in itself, was of little magnitude. He said he was not afraid of the military threats from France and ECOWAS, adding, "We will discharge our responsibilities." He said the current crisis was being fuelled by people outside the borders of Africa who were also interfering with local problems, thereby making things more complicated. He wondered why the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General, Mr Ban Ki-Moon, would accept the credentials of an Ambassador to the UN when the person who appointed him (Ouattara) had not taken any oath before the Constitutional Council. President Gbagbo said the crisis was a small and ordinary problem that could be seen everywhere, including the United States which had its share of electoral disputes in 2000 and it took two months to declare the winner of a contest between Al Gore and George Bush. On the way forward to uniting the country, he said he had, in two televised addresses in December 2010, stretched his arms to Messrs Ouattara and Bedie to find a lasting solution to the crisis. "I am still stretching out to them. I hope they will stretch their arms and let us talk. The more we talk among ourselves, the less we give room for external forces to interfere," he noted. According to President Gbagbo, the solution to the Ivorian crisis should mean a lot to ECOWAS, which should be committed to peace because Cote d'Ivoire is a major player in West Africa and has the second biggest economy in the sub-region. On allowing former President Konan Bedie and Ouattara to contest the elections, he said the two were disqualified per Article 35 of the Ivorian Constitution. While Mr Bedie was barred because of his age (75) and Ouattara because both parents were not from Cote d'Ivoire, he (Gbagbo) had to give in to allow them to contest in order to unite the country and end the armed conflicts. He said in spite of all the concessions he made, which included allowing the opposition to take 90 per cent of Electoral Commission positions and using Article 48 of the constitution to allow his two opponents to contest the elections and ultimately open the northern part of the country for unity, the rebels refused to disarm. Ouattara was declared the winner of the November 28, 2010 run-off by Cote d'Ivoire's Electoral Commission but the Constitutional Council overturned the results after invalidating half a million votes from Ouattara's strongholds. The dispute has resulted in the death of hundreds of people and also sparked a refugee crisis in the world's largest cocoa exporting country which is struggling to recover from the 2002-2003 civil war that divided the country into two. Ouattara draws much of his support from the country's rebel-held north, while Gbagbo's power base is in the south. Source: Daily Graphic