A Dilemma For Laurent Gbagbo in Ivory Coast - An Argument from African Moral Reasoning.

The post election crisis in Ivory Coast  has claimed at least 247 lives with another 49 missing.   In addition to this , at least  14,000 people have been displaced and are fleeing across the border to neighbouring states. A threat of civil war looms.

As I understand it, the chronological sequence of events so far is as follows: 

On the 28^th of November  2010 , a  presidential  run-off  election was held successfully and the international observers ,who had hitherto been mandated, reported a free, fair and democratic election. The international observers, amongst others, included the United Nations, European Union and African Union. The country’s election authorities who were constitutionally empowered to conduct the election declared Alassane Ouattara the winner of a Nov. 28 run-off poll, but the Constitutional Council, widely believed to be under the influence of  Laurent Gbagbo  invalidated the results and handed incumbent Laurent Gbagbo a new term claiming 10% of the votes were null and void. World leaders endorsed opposition leader Alassane Ouattara as winner of presidential elections after the Constitutional Council overruled provisional results and declared that the incumbent , President Laurent Gbagbo , had won. The IMF and other relevant international organisations have since recognised Allassane Ouattara as legitimate Head of State. West African leaders convened  emergency meetings in Abuja, Nigeria, on the mounting crisis in Ivory Coast. They joined other world leaders in calling for Laurent Gbagbo to step aside and  even threatened military intervention. While all world leaders have pressed Gbagbo to step aside, the veteran President  has vowed to hang on to power and has ordered  foreign peacekeepers out of the country. The UN not only ignored this order but also asked the Security Council to increase the number of Peace Keepers and extend its mandate for another six months.

Laurent  Gbagbo is evidently faced with a dilemma.  On the one hand, he has solemnly sworn (or affirmed) that he will faithfully execute the office of President of the Ivory Coast, and will to the best of his ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution.

 "In recent days I have noted serious cases of interference,"  he said.  "I am charged with defending our sovereignty and I will not negotiate on that. I have never called on someone from outside to put me in office,"  Mr Gbagbo added.  

On the other hand, the lives of millions of his fellow countrymen , the economy and prosperity  of his country are at risk. He is therefore faced with the task of Moral reasoning to decide whether to step aside or to stay in power.

 African Moral Principles involved

 Moral reasoning is defined as individual or collective practical reasoning about what,  morally , one ought to do when faced with what is right or wrong, virtuous or vicious. Accordingly, attending to moral reasoning and setting aside other considerations will  be useful to Laurent Gbagbo if his real interest is in determining the right answer to this concrete moral problem in Ivory Coast.

Laurent Gbagbo, a Professor of History, ought to be familiar with the theory and practice of Moral reasoning that has developed over centuries and in particular the development to date of this faculty of thinking in African Philosophy. He ought to be aware of the rise and fall of many leaders in history who pitched against the will of the people and the international community. A good example was Saddam Hussein of Iraq.

There are many established principles of African moral reasoning that are applicable in this case but it will suffice in this article to sketch just a few.

These are:

1. Human welfare and concern constitute the preoccupation of African ethics.

This principle is expressed in the following  Akan Maxim
“It is the human being that counts: I call upon gold, it answers not; I call upon cloth, it answers not; it is the human being that counts.”

2. The Principle of reciprocity and interdependence are expressed in another African maxim:

“The right arm washes the left arm and the left arm washes the right arm”.

The nation is made up of government and opposition. They must work together to solve this.

3.The principle of intervention by ECOWAs in Affairs of its members is adequately addressed by the maxim : 

“Your neighbour's situation is [potentially] your situation.”

The ethnic and cultural divide line overflows into many neighbouring countries and any instability in Ivory Coast could easily spill over to the whole region.


The task of moral reasoning before Laurent Gbagbo  therefore is to sort out relevant considerations from irrelevant ones, as well as to determine which are especially relevant and which only slightly so.

From the philosophical point of view , I submit that it is morally wrong for him to hang on to power even if he believes he has other justifications like the support of over half of the population which he claims and also even if he relies on the recent precedences in Zimbabwe and Kenya where governments of national unity were eventually invoked as solutions. He should note that in those two countries, there was no threat of a regional and /or international community intervening militarily. What rational or practical moral argument can there be for an individual or a regime to place self interest over and above the fate of  innocent millions of fellow countrymen and women who will face the horrors of a civil war.