ABIDJAN – Pressure ratcheted up on Sunday on Ivory Coast’s defiant leader Laurent Gbagbo to quit even as his rival faced the threat of a mob attack on his internationally recognised government’s headquarters.
Gbagbo’s notorious “Street General”, Minister for Youth Charles Ble Goude, had urged Ivorian youths to rise up after the New Year to seize control of Alassane Ouattara’s headquarters in the waterfront Golf Hotel resort. But as the African Union mediator in the crisis, Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga, began his latest round of shuttle diplomacy with a pledge to protect democracy in the west African nation, the crowds of youths failed to show.
“Everything is calm at the hotel, we’re very serene,” said Patrick Achi, spokesman for Ouattara’s besieged government under Prime Minister Guillaume Soro. Tensions have risen steadily in the deadly standoff since Gbagbo and Ouattara both claimed victory in a November 28 presidential run-off vote that it was hoped would end a decade of crisis in Ivory Coast.
The entrenched leaders have fired off a series of deadlines at each other, with Ouattara’s latest call for Gbagbo to quit expiring unheeded at midnight on New Year’s eve. AU mediator Odinga set off Sunday from Nairobi to Nigeria en route for Abidjan on what he called a peace mission to protect democracy and the voice of the people of Ivory Coast.
“Mr Odinga left the country this morning for Abuja, Nigeria, where he will hold talks with… (Nigerian President) Goodluck Jonathan, who is also the Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on the situation in Ivory Coast,” a statement from his office said.
“Tomorrow (Monday), Mr Odinga will join the presidents of Benin, Sierra Leone and Cape Verde, who have been delegated by ECOWAS to travel to the Ivory Coast with a message from the bloc for incumbent president Laurent Gbagbo,” it said.
