Mbeki called on to resolve Ivorian crisis

South Africa's track record of peace-brokering initiatives in the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Burundi influenced the African Union (AU) in calling on President Thabo Mbeki to help resolve the current crisis in Cote d'Ivoire, a senior security analyst told IRIN. "It is quite significant - the AU did not call on any ECOWAS [the 15-member Economic Community of West African States] member for help. They are clearly looking for an outside intervention," said Henry Boschof, a security expert at the Pretoria-based Institute for Security Studies. "Both Mbeki and the Nigerian president - also the current AU chair - Olusegun Obasanjo, are looked on with great respect on the continent as they have been the driving force of several initiatives, such as the African stand-by force. A political intervention which would bring all the parties to a table to talk is the only solution to the Ivorian crisis," he added. After years of failed peace talks mediated by former Zambian president Frederick Chiluba, Mbeki was finally able to broker a power-sharing accord between the DRC government and various rebel groups at a meeting held in South Africa in December 2002. In his weekly column posted on the ruling African National Congress's website on Friday, Mbeki said Africa's failure to resolve the crisis in Cote d'Ivoire posed "an immense and urgent challenge" to the continent and to the AU. "As Africans, we must openly admit the reality that we have failed to help the Ivorians to end the crisis in their country... It was precisely because of this African failure that France made a military, political and diplomatic intervention to help move Cote d'Ivoire towards peace," he wrote. South African foreign ministry spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa told IRIN on Monday that Mbeki was currently consulting with members of ECOWAS. "As soon as arrangements have been finalised, we will know when the president [Mbeki] will leave for Cote d'Ivoire." The AU had called on Mbeki to "undertake an urgent mission" to resolve the issue in a communique released on Sunday. Militant supporters of Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo rampaged through Abidjan, the commercial capital, on Saturday night, looting and burning French homes, schools and businesses, forcing France's military to airlift more than 150 foreigners to safety and send in troops to restore calm. The violence erupted in Abidjan after France destroyed almost the entire airforce of its former colony, following the Ivorian defence force's bombardment of a French base in the north. Nine French peacekeepers and one American civilian died in Saturday's bombing of the rebel town of Bouake. The West African country has been split into a rebel-held north and a government-controlled south since September 2002, with around 10,000 peacekeepers from the UN and France standing guard in a buffer zone between the two sides. This week's attacks, which caused the UN to suspend its humanitarian operations, marked the first hostilities since a ceasefire was signed in May last year.