IVORY COAST: Incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo resists African demands he step down as AU envoys arrive in Abidjan

Record ID: 181667

  • Title: IVORY COAST: Incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo resists African demands he step down as AU envoys arrive in Abidjan
  • Date: 4th January 2011
  • Summary: ABIDJAN, IVORY COAST (JANUARY 3, 2011) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PLANE TAXIING ON RUNWAY VARIOUS OF GILBERT MARIE AKE N'GBO, PRIME MINISTER IN IVORY COAST'S INCUMBENT LEADER LAURENT GBAGBO'S GOVERNMENT, WALKING ON RED CARPET AKE N'GBO WAITING IN FRONT OF PLANE KENYA'S PRIME MINISTER RAILA ODINGA COMING OUT OF PLANE ODINGA BEING WELCOMED BY AKE N'GBO ODINGA SALUTING OFFICIALS ODINGA AND AKE N'GBO WALKING ON RED CARPET IVORIAN FLAG ODINGA AND AKE N'GBO WALKING WITH PLANE IN BACKGROUND IVORIAN ARMY OFFICERS WAITING INSIDE AIRPORT HALL ODINGA AND AKE N'GBO ENTERING AIRPORT HALL PROTOCOL OFFICIALS IN FRONT OF CLOSED DOOR VARIOUS OF ODINGA AND N'GBO SITTING TALKING IN AIRPORT HALL ODINGA AND AKE N'GBO COMING OUT OF AIRPORT CEREMONY HALL AKE N'GBO WALKING WITH ODINGA TO THE CAR ODINGA'S CONVOY LEAVING AIRPORT
  • Embargoed: 19th January 2011 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Cote d'Ivoire
  • Country: Ivory Coast
  • Topics: International Relations,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA3KH25LQ7Q1EWKX3B09RQRW4JJ
  • Story Text: Ivory Coast's incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo has said he will reject a demand by African heads of state on Monday (December 3) that he cede power to his rival Alassane Ouattara or face force.
    Four leaders representing West African regional bloc ECOWAS and the African Union were due to meet with Gbagbo to ask him to give up the presidency after a Nov. 28 poll that shows he lost the election.
    The Kenyan Prime Minister, Raila Odinga, returned to Ivory Coast where he was due to join three west African heads of state - Benin's Boni Yayi, Sierra Leone's Ernest Bai Koroma and Cape Verde's Pedro Pires - after an initial trip last week in which they failed to convince Gbagbo to step down.
    Odinga's office issued a statement saying that Odinga will "…seek a peaceful settlement to the election crisis (...) and seek an assurance of safety and security for Mr. Laurent Gbagbo and his supporters, if he agrees to cede power."
    Gbagbo, who has the backing of the country's top court and the army, has shrugged off pressure to step down and said on state television on the weekend that Ouattara "should not count on foreign armies to come and make him president."
    Sending in military forces could trigger open conflict between Gbagbo's government army and the ECOWAS force, known as ECOMOG. In addition, northern rebels who tried to topple him in 2002 may also get involved.
    Ouattara's camp says the army is divided and most troops would put up little resistance to a sufficient display of force. But West African leaders are seen as unlikely to carry through the threat of force because of the risk of being bogged down in an urban war and might lack the operational intelligence to track Gbagbo and his supporters down in a strike.
    Nigeria, the backbone of ECOMOG, has its own growing security issues at home -- and its own elections in April.
    More than 170 people have been killed since the start of the standoff in the world's top cocoa grower, which threatens to restart open conflict in the country still split in two by a 2002-03 civil war.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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