IVORY COAST: Presidential claimant Alassane Ouattara's Prime Minister Guillaume Soro warns of use of force if Laurent Gbagbo doesn't step down

Record ID: 181905

  • Title: IVORY COAST: Presidential claimant Alassane Ouattara's Prime Minister Guillaume Soro warns of use of force if Laurent Gbagbo doesn't step down
  • Date: 1st January 2011
  • Summary: ABIDJAN, IVORY COAST (DECEMBER 31, 2010) (REUTERS) IVORY COAST'S' PRESIDENTIAL CLAIMANT ALASSANE OUATTARA'S PRIME MINISTER GUILLAUME SORO GREETING HIS GOVERNMENT MINISTERS VARIOUS OF MINISTERS SITTING (SOUNDBITE) (French) PRESIDENTIAL CLAIMANT ALASSANE OUATTARA'S PRIME MINISTER GUILLAUME SORO SAYING: "The President of the Republic (Ouattara) has the support of the Republican part of our army." GOVERNMENT MINISTERS SITTING (SOUNDBITE) (French) PRESIDENTIAL CLAIMANT ALASSANE OUATTARA'S PRIME MINISTER GUILLAUME SORO SAYING: "If until midnight he (Gbagbo) doesn't quit power, clearly the president of the republic (Ouattara) of course regrettably will have to think about other measures. As far as we are concerned, we, in the government, I say it again, we are convinced that Mr Gbagbo will only leave by the use of force." OUATTARA AND SORO WALKING OUTSIDE GOLF HOTEL / IN GARDEN OF HOTEL ABIDJAN, IVORY COAST (RECENT - DECEMBER 27, 2010) (REUTERS) TWO SOLDIERS LOYAL TO OUATARRA ON GUARD OUTSIDE HOTEL
  • Embargoed: 16th January 2011 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Cote d'Ivoire
  • Country: Ivory Coast
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA434ZDLT7NWFYH3DZVZP27OV7U
  • Story Text: Ivory Coast presidential claimant Alassane Ouattara's prime minister, Guillaume Soro says incumbent president Laurent Gbagbo should leave office by midnight or be forcibly ejected from the post he has refused to relinquish.
    Addressing journalists in the Golf Hotel, where Ivory Coast presidential claimant Alassane Ouattara's officials are holed up under the guard of United Nations (UN) peacekeepers, Prime Minister Guillaume Soro in Ouattara's government called for swift international action on Friday (December 31) to remove incumbent president Laurent Gbagbo by force.
    He said the Ivory Coast was already in a state of civil war and there were divisions in the Ivorian army.
    "The President of the Republic (Ouattara) has the support of the Republican part of our army," Soro said.
    "If until midnight he (Gbagbo) doesn't quit power, clearly the president of the republic (Ouattara) of course regrettably will have to think about other measures. As far as we are concerned, we, in the government, I say it again, we are convinced that Mr Gbagbo will only leave by the use of force," Soro said.
    A senior UN official warned incumbent Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo and other senior officials on Friday they may be held criminally accountable for human rights violations.
    A dispute between Gbagbo and rival election candidate Ouattara over who won the presidential election on November 28 has plunged the West African state into turmoil and UN experts have reported killings, disappearances and arbitrary detentions.
    As uncertainty grew over which of the rival governments set up by the two claimants was in charge of state accounts, Ivory Coast was hours away from missing an international debt payment due on Friday.
    Ouattara's government said the cash had run out and Gbagbo's offered no guarantees.
    Meanwhile, Gbagbo's newly hired French lawyer Roland Dumas, a socialist politician, former foreign minister and ex-head of France's Constitutional Council, told journalists they would "re-establish the truth about the elections."
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