President Laurent Gbagbo leaves Accra

The Ivorian president, Laurent Gbagbo left Accra this evening for home after a two-day official visit to the country.  He was seen off by the president John Evans Attah Mills.  

Also at the airport were some Ministers of State, the Chief of the Defence Staff, Major General peter Blay, the dean of the diplomatic Corps in Ghana and members of African diplomatic Corps as well as a large crowd of Ivorian citizens in Accra.  

Before departure, president Gbagbo took the national salute and inspected a guard of honour mounted by 3-officers and 96 men drawn from the 48 engineer regiment under the command of Major Ernest Nyuur with the armed forces Central band on parade.  

The Ivorian leader was also given a 21 gun salute to mark the end of his visit to the country.

President John Evans Atta Mills earlier held bilateral talks with President, Laurent Gbagbo.  The closed door talks were attended by Ministers of State.  

Briefing the media later, President Mills said the two countries have agreed to work together for peace and good neighbourliness.   President Mills said Ghana is ready to assist Cote d'Ivoire.  He said the sub region is faced with a number of challenges with political instability as the major problem.  

President Mills urged the Ivorian government to use the elections to teach the rest of the world that Africa is capable of managing its own affairs.  

President Laurent Gbagbo stated that Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire have a lot in common as there are many Ghanaian ethnic groups living in Cote d'ivoire.  

Economically President Gbagbo said both countries are endowed with gold, cocoa and more recently oil.  It is  therefore important that both countries pull their resources and share experience on how to use these resources for the benefit of their citizens.