[ 2011-04-20 ]

Foreign Affairs Minister, Alhaji Mohammed Mumuni

Ghana Embassy still operational in Ivory Coast - Mumuni
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Alhaji Mohammed
Mumuni has denied reports that Ghana’s Embassy
in Cote d’Ivoire has been closed down.

The New Statesman newspaper reported in its
Wednesday April 20 edition that the entire staff
of the embassy in Abidjan, including the
Ambassador, Col E. K. T. Donkor (rtd), have been
evacuated to Ghana and the mission closed down.

According to the Paper, the evacuation was forced
by perceived or real threats to the lives of staff
of the embassy after the arrest of presidential
claimant Laurent Gbagbo following weeks of unrest
in the country. Allassane Ouattara has since taken
charge as the legitimate elected President of Cote
d’Ivoire.

The Paper claimed that the latest development is
perhaps due to Ghana’s ‘contradictory
position’ on the Ivorian situation which
appeared to have betrayed the regional body,
ECOWAS, and by extension, given the impression
that Ghana's President was in support of Laurent
Gbagbo's claim to office.

But Foreign Minister Alhaji Mohammed Mumuni told
Citi News the Newspaper’s report is inaccurate.


“That report is utterly wrong and an
exaggeration. In the week that Mr. Gbagbo was
captured, the security situation in Ivory had
deteriorated significantly so it was adjudged that
it was not safe for our Embassy to operate fully
so Government decided to evacuate the
non-essential staff of the mission to Accra. So we
left a skeleton staff, essentially people who were
involved in the evacuation contingency plans for
Ghanaian citizens who were ready to come home.

"So it is never really true that we have closed
down our mission because that has certain
diplomatic connotations” he noted.

He could however not confirm the Newspaper’s
report that Ghana’s Ambassador was secretly
flown to Accra aboard the Presidential jet on
Monday.

He said although he is yet to make contact with
the Ambassador, his visits to Ghana are purely for
consultation purposes.

Hon Mumuni said the Embassy will resume full
operations when the situation in Abidjan returns
to normalcy.

He also rejected the perception that President
Mills supported Mr. Gbagbo.

“Ghana has had full diplomatic relations with
Ivory Coast and President Mills had said that he
has no preference as to who rules Cote d’Ivoire
and that it was the right of the Ivorian people.
Even in the aftermath of the capture of Mr.
Gbagbo, (Ghana) Government came out to say that
what had happened was a new opportunity to rescue
the peace process in that country."

Source - Citifmonline

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