Mills shouldn’t have signed if he didn't want war – NPP Chairman

NPP Chairman, Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey         New Patriotic Party (NPP) Chairman, Jake Otanka Obetsebi-Lamptey says President J.E.A. Mills should not have signed the ECOWAS document on Cote d’Ivoire if he knew that military intervention was not on the cards for Ghana. The NPP Chairman was reacting to claims from government circles that the African Mission at the United Nations (UN), which described military intervention in Cote d’Ivoire as “no option”. Speaking to Accra-based Peace FM, Mr Obetsebi-Lamptey insisted that the NPP never said President Mills should send troops to Cote d’Ivoire, but was only concerned that the president had undermined ECOWAS’ position on Cote d’Ivoire. “The President had told us that he had signed the [ECOWAS] document [on Cote d’Iovire] with the other ECOWAS leaders. Then what that document had said, he had then gone on to say that he personally did not subscribe to even though he had signed it and that itself undermines the position of ECOWAS,” he stated. Mr Obetsebi-Lamptey maintained that the President should not have signed the ECOWAS document on Cote d’Ivoire which included the option of military intervention if he was not in favour of it. “If the President’s position from the very beginning was very adamantly that no troops should be sent, then possibly he should not have signed the document,” he contested. Koku Anyidoho, Head of Communications at the Presidency   Early on the same programme, Head of Communications at the Presidency, Koku Anyidoho had said President Mills felt vindicated by the new continental position and stated that this would avoid any casualties on the side of all stakeholders. Mr Anyidoho said the President will be attending an African Union (AU) summit meeting slated for January 28 to January 30, at which the crisis in Cote d’Ivoire is expected to be discussed and a statement issued to that effect. The Head Of Ghana’s Permanent Mission To The United Nations reports that the African Mission at the UN is not keen on any military option in Cote d’Ivoire. Story by Fidel Amoah/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana