Ivory Coast News

 

Ivory Coast presidential rival pushes crisis to a head

By Evelyne Aka (AFP) – 

ABIDJAN — Would-be Ivory Coast leader Alassane Ouattara stepped up his efforts to seize the levers of power on Tuesday, urging people to take to the streets to help him seize control of key government offices.

Ouattara has been recognised as winner of last month's election by the UN and the international community, but previous leader Laurent Gbagbo has also declared himself president and has kept command of the army and ministries.

There were signs Tuesday the dangerous two-week-old stand-off was coming to a head, with Ouattara's camp urging supporters to engage in "peaceful combat" to take charge of state television and the Abidjan seat of government.

In the central town of Tiebissou, pro-Gbagbo security forces fired tear gas to disperse a crowd of a few hundred Ouattara supporters who had crossed Ivory Coast's ceasefire line from the formerly rebel-held north, witnesses said.

Ivory Coast split between a mainly Muslim north and the mainly Christian south after a failed putsch against Gbagbo in 2002. The dispute between the northern and southern presidential candidates has revived tension.

In a statement issued from the hotel where Ouattara's shadow administration is holed up behind a cordon of UN armoured vehicles, his party urged citizens to march on state broadcaster RTI on Thursday and the cabinet on Friday.

"The RHDP calls on the valiant people of Ivory Coast to engage in a noble combat aimed at restoring a state of law, at guaranteeing fundamental freedoms and at ensuring social cohesion," the party said in a statement.

The statement, which was co-signed by Ouattara's party and former rebel army the New Forces (FN), also urged the public "to accompany the government to the prime minister's office to accomplish its duties on Friday."

The prime minister's office is in the downtown Plateau district of Abidjan, an area fully under the control of pro-Gbagbo forces, and it is occupied and used by Gbagbo's choice for prime minister, Ake N'Gbo.

Ouattara's choice, FN commander Guillaume Soro, has said he plans to hold a cabinet meeting in the offices on Friday, but has not said whether he is ready to use force in the event that loyalist troops oppose his entry.

"We have the means. We won't need to rely on the 'impartial forces'. It will get done," a close aide to Soro told AFP without elaborating, referring to Ivory Coast's United Nations peacekeeping force.

"As long as there is no clear and definitive acceptance by former president Laurent Gbagbo of... the victory of President Alassane Ouattara, no negotiation is possible," warned Ouattara spokesman Patrick Achi.

Ouattara's base, the waterfront Golf Hotel in Abidjan, is protected by UN troops and former rebels from Soro's New Forces, but the bulk of his support is in the north and he is outgunned in the commercial capital.

Asked whether Gbagbo's incumbent administration would allow Ouattara's camp to take state television and the seat of government, Gbagbo's foreign minister Alcide Djedje said simply: "That will not happen."

Djedje said Gbagbo was "taking measures to ensure that there will not be new violence in Ivory Coast" and claimed United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was sending African mediators to negotiate a peaceful outcome.

"Today, as I'm talking to you, it is the time for mediation. There are steps that have been taken to send African mediators," the minister told AFP. "Very soon there will be mediators that will arrive in Ivory Coast."

Djedje, who was formerly Gbagbo's chief diplomatic advisor and ambassador to the United Nations, said the United States and former colonial power France had made a mistake in rushing to endorse Ouattara's disputed rule.

Alongside the United Nations and the African Union, the European Union has also condemned Gbagbo's attempt to cling to power. On Tuesday it revealed a list of 11 Ivorians that will be targeted by sanctions.

Those facing travel bans and asset freezes include Gbagbo's senior security adviser Kadet Berlin, his office chief of staff Desire Tagro and the head of the Constitutional Council which named him victor, Yao N'Dre.

Also on the list are senior military officers, the head of Gbagbo's party the FPI, the current director of state broadcasting and the chief bodyguard to Gbagbo's powerful wife Simone, Captain Anselme Seka Yapo.

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