IVORY COAST: Kenya's Prime Minister Raila Odinga arrives for mediation talks with incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo and opposition leader Alassane Ouattara

Record ID: 181902

  • Title: IVORY COAST: Kenya's Prime Minister Raila Odinga arrives for mediation talks with incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo and opposition leader Alassane Ouattara
  • Date: 18th January 2011
  • Summary: ABIDJAN, IVORY COAST (JANUARY 17, 2011) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PLANE OF KENYAN PRIME MINISTER RAILA ODINGA ARRIVING, ODINGA WALKING ON RED CARPET WITH THE PRIME MINISTER OF INCUMBENT LAURENT GBAGBO'S GOVERNMENT, GILBERT AKE SOLDIER GUARDING ODINGA ENTERING ROOM WITH AKE SOLDIERS OUTSIDE STANDING GUARD VARIOUS OF ODINGA SITTING TALKING TO AKE MORE OF SOLDIERS STANDING GUARD VARIOUS OF ODINGA WALKING WITH AKE, ODINGA GETTING IN CAR AND LEAVING AIRPORT
  • Embargoed: 2nd February 2011 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Cote d'Ivoire
  • Country: Ivory Coast
  • Topics: International Relations,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVABGO7TRVR2Z0VBB0LGUDM2YRFH
  • Story Text: Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga arrived in Abidjan on Monday (January 17) for the second time in an attempt to mediate in the Ivorian political crisis.
    He was welcomed by incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo's prime minister, Gilbert Marie Ake, at Abidjan's international airport before meeting with the U.N. peacekeeping chief YJ Choi at the U.N. headquarters.
    Odinga is also holding talks with Gbagbo at the presidential palace and with the presidential claimant Alassane Ouattara, who's still holed up under U.N. protection at the Golf Hotel in Abidjan.
    The United Nations human rights office has said at least 247 people have been killed in violence in the world's biggest cocoa grower since a disputed presidential election on November 28, which risks sending the country back into civil war.
    In the latest move in international efforts to persuade incumbent Laurent Gbagbo to quit after an election he is widely held to have lost, the European Union on Saturday (January 15) froze assets of the country's ports, its state oil firm and three banks.
    Gbagbo's camp brushed off the tighter sanctions and said he still had access to accounts at West Africa's central bank, even though regional leaders recognise his election rival Alassane Ouattara as legitimate leader of the country.
    ECOWAS has said it could use "legitimate force" if Gbagbo refuses to go quietly.
    Odinga and the three West African heads of state met Gbagbo and Ouattara in Abidjan two weeks ago but failed to persuade Gbagbo to cede power.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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