By Aloysius AGENDIA
On March 10, 2011 Dramane Alasane Ouattara, the Ivorian unofficial rebel leader since 1999 ( father of the 1999 coup d' etat and the 2002 rebellion), and the one time closest ally of the former Ivorian dictator, Felix Houphouet Boigny entered history as the first democratically imposed ruler in Africa, to take charge of Cote D Ivoire. This was the outcome of the meeting of an AU Panel after months of intense lobbying, campaigns and interest negotiations following the controversial second round of presidential elections of November 28, 2010 in the West African country. The AU thereafter urged the Ivorian Constitutional Council which had been rejected by the rebel leader to again “constitutionalise” Ouatara by inaugurating him. The Constitutional Council headed by a confidant of incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo had annulled provisional results published under controversial circumstances by a confidant of Ouattara who headed the Electoral Commission. On April 004, 2011 over 1500 French soldiers and 7000 UN troops alongside 10.000 rebels supported by UN and French helicopter gun fire bombarded Abidjan and kiilled several hundreds in the process. This was the last move to finally imposed Ouattara as president of Cote D Ivoire.