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Latest update: 28/12/2010
- ECOWAS - elections - Ivory Coast - Laurent Gbagbo
Gbagbo confronts ultimatum with vow to sever ties
Ivory Coast’s incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo said Tuesday he would sever ties with nations that recognise his presidential rival after three West African leaders arrived to deliver an ECOWAS ultimatum threatening to remove him by force.
REUTERS - The government of Ivory Coast's incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo said it would sever ties with countries that recognised envoys named by presidential claimant Alassane Ouattara in a powerful sign he was not about to quit.
"The government would like to make it known that in the light of such decisions, it reserves the right to apply reciprocity in ending the missions of their ambassadors in Ivory Coast," the government's spokesman said in a statement on national television on Tuesday.
French Foreign Minister Michele Alliot-Marie had said that France would accredit a new Ivorian ambassador at the request of Ouattara's government, which it recognises as the winner of last month's contested election.
Three west African presidents met Gbagbo earlier on Tuesday to deliver an ultimatum from the ECOWAS regional bloc to step down as leader of the world's top cocoa grower or face removal by force.
"All went well" in the meeting, one of the leaders, Benin's President Boni Yayi, said as it ended. He declined to give further details.
Gbagbo's government has signalled he is unlikely to agree to bow to international pressure and cede power to Ouattara, considered by regional and world powers to be the legitimate winner of last month's presidential election.
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The United States and the European Union have imposed a travel ban on Gbagbo and his inner circle, while the World Bank and the regional West African central bank have frozen his finances in an attempt to weaken his grip on power.
Gbagbo's government officials were not immediately available to comment after the meeting. The three presidents -- Benin's Yayi, Sierra Leone's Ernest Bai Koroma and Cape Verde's Pedro Pires -- were due to meet Ouattara later in the day.
Gbagbo's camp originally said it would welcome the visiting leaders "as brothers and friends, and listen to the message they have to convey". But shortly before the meeting, his government warned it would not tolerate any meddling in its affairs.
Rejects intervention
"Let's avoid political delinquency. No international institution has the right to intervene by force to impose a president in a sovereign state," government spokesman Ahoua Don Melo told the BBC when asked if Gbagbo would leave.
Post-election violence has killed more than 170 people and threatens to tip the country back into civil war.
In a sign of mounting tensions, a crowd attacked a United Nations convoy on Tuesday, wounding one peacekeeper with a machete and setting fire to a vehicle, according to a statement issued by the U.N. mission in Ivory Coast.
Provisional election results showed Ouattara winning by 8 percentage points. But the nation's top court, run by a Gbagbo ally, overturned the results amid allegations of fraud.
The standoff turned violent this month after Ouattara supporters tried to seize the state broadcaster's building and clashed with security forces. At least 20 people were killed.
After several days of calm, sporadic gunfire was heard on Tuesday morning in the Abidjan neighbourhood of Abobo, a stronghold of Ouattara supporters. A Reuters witness said police were chasing youths trying to set up barricades with burning tyres. It was not known if there were any casualties.
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(4) Reactions
The French Policy
The French Government Policy in Africa is evil not to say bad. What is the difference between what is going on in Ivory Coast and What went on in Togo? Is it because Togo is so small in Size and does not offer any greater economic benefit that is why that country was sold to to the Gnassingbe family who pays their dues to the successive French Gorvernment to keep them in power.Let the Ivorian solve their own problem, i don't think France should continue interfering in French speaking African countries internal issues. If these countries are as bad as it looks today, it is the French government who made it so. It is time France allows the Ivorian and Africans to have their peace.
Gbagbo confronts ultimatum with vow to sever ties
This is the way to go!!!!!
Gbagbo should stay put. Let no foreigners pretend they love or know Ivory Coast more than the Ivorians. If this Quattara had the mass behind him as he purports, why did the general strike fail???
Me wonders!!!
Another Somalia
The International committee is setting up another Somalia in West Africa. Please learn the 21st century diplomacy. Why the international committee is supporting the rebel instead the 2000 legitimate leader? We are all in bad business. May the mighty GOD help us.
Gbagbo confronts ultimatum with vow to sever ties
Isn't it amazing that no one (in the international community) at all has tried to find out what exactly happened during the second round of elections in Ivory Coast (allegations of fraud and other electoral malpractices), but all as one have moved on to threaten and/or impose sanctions based on United nations observers report. Is there any international statutes that say that when UN observers nod an election there can never be any contest by any party? Are there no rules and procedures for contesting electoral results in Ivory Coast? Why isn't the International Community encouraging the aggrieved party to use these avenues instead of rushing to use unorthodox methods to remove Laurent Bagbo? It smells a rat!!! Soldier on Ivorian brothers, we have seen this attempt to impose leaders far too often in our continent . Wills, Atlanta USA