Ivory Coast marked a fearful Christmas on Saturday as defiant strongman Laurent Gbagbo rejected a West African threat to oust him by force unless he cedes power to his rival Alassane Ouattara. The pair have been locked in a political stand-off for almost a month after both claimed to have won the November 28 presidential election, but mounting international pressure may have brought the crisis to a turning point.
Although Ouattara has been recognised as Ivory Coast's leader by world powers, Gbagbo has clung grimly onto power, deploying his feared security forces to crush protest and blockade his rival's hotel campaign headquarters. Gbagbo has shrugged off criticism and sanctions from the United Nations, United States, France and the European Union, but now his fellow West African presidents have taken two more important steps against him.
The Central Bank of West African States has cut him off from Ivory Coast's accounts, giving Ouattara signature rights, and the 15 nations of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have threatened military intervention.
Meeting Friday in the Nigerian capital Abuja, the neighbouring states said they would send one last-ditch diplomatic mission to try to secure Gbagbo's resignation, and threatened to prosecute those behind post-election violence. According to their statement, if Gbagbo remains defiant, "the community will be left with no alternative but to take other measures, including the use of legitimate force, to achieve the goals of the Ivorian people."
ECOWAS said it would hold a meeting of regional military chiefs of staff from the bloc to draw up plans for future action, but the response from Gbagbo's camp was uncompromising, rejecting the "unacceptable" threat. The regime's spokesman Ahoua Don Mello, branded the West African move a "Western plot directed by France" and warned that military action could put millions of regional immigrants in Ivory Coast in danger.
"The people of Ivory Coast will mobilise. This boosts our patriotism. This strengthens our faith in Ivorian nationalism," he said, "We're always open to dialogue, but within strict respect of the laws and regulations of the Republic of Ivory Coast," he said. Gbagbo's camp regards him as the lawful and duly-elected president on the country.