SA criticised for sending 'warship to Ivory Coast'

The west African bloc ECOWAS has chided South Africa for sending a "warship" to Ivory Coast, but Pretoria’s ambassador said it was a support vessel dispatched to the region and not meant for any military purpose.

James Victor Gbeho, head of the 15-nation West African bloc which has threatened to use force to oust Ivory Coast strongman Laurent Gbagbo, told journalists “there is a South African warship docked in Cote d’Ivoire.” “Action such as that can only complicate the matter further,” he said.

South Africa’s ambassador to Nigeria disputed Gbeho’s reference to the vessel as a warship and said it could serve as a neutral negotiation venue.

He said a similar arrangement was used for the Democratic Republic of Congo years back when South Africa mediated.

According to the ambassador, the vessel had initially docked in Ghana, but he said he did not know its current location.

“There is nothing amiss about the vessel we sent. It’s just a harmless support vessel,” Kingsley Mamabolo told AFP. “It could be used for evacuation. It’s not meant to go and intervene militarily.

“It’s ridiculous for anybody to suspect that South Africa would want to do a thing of that nature,” he said.

“We have in the past sent ships (to troubled areas) which are not combat ships, but support ships for various reasons such as a venue for neutral negotiation, or in the event of evacuation.” He said South Africa “in principle has never believed in intervention by force.” “South Africa will never, ever intervene without consulting the regional bloc, in this case ECOWAS, and that we will never do anything that has not been authorised or mandated by the African Union (AU).” ECOWAS has recognised Gbagbo’s rival Alassane Ouattara as president and demanded that Gbagbo quit power.

But the AU has tasked a panel of five heads of state to find a peaceful, binding solution by the end of February.

The panel, made up of the leaders of Burkina Faso, Chad, South Africa, Mauritania and Tanzania, sent a team of experts on an exploratory mission to Ivory Coast.