Rabat - Cote d'Ivoire has sacked its ambassador to the UN, Youssoufou Bamba, after he described Western Sahara as "the one territory that is not yet autonomous in Africa."
Rabat – Cote d’Ivoire has sacked its ambassador to the UN, Youssoufou Bamba, after he described Western Sahara as “the one territory that is not yet autonomous in Africa.”
Youssoufou Bamba’s remarks triggered the anger of the political establishment in Cote d’Ivoire as they go against the official stance of Cote d’Ivoire with regards to the Sahara issue.
A letter from the Ivorian foreign minister Koffi Dibby was sent to the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon on March 2nd requesting the dismissal of Youssoufou Bamba. The decision was final and Bamba is reported to have already left New York.
Youssoufou Bamba said he will file a complaint against French-speaking magazine Jeune Afrique which published an article attributing the remarks on Western Sahara to him.
The remarks, made in mid-October before a UN committee on decolonization, provoked the wrath of Ivorian President Lassen Ouattara who regards Morocco as a strategic partner with whom the ties should be maintained and reinforced.
