ABIDJAN – Ivory Coast strongman Laurent Gbagbo’s troops kept up their blockade of his presidential rival’s headquarters on Wednesday, despite a vow to lift the siege as a prelude to talks to resolve the stand-off.
African leaders struggling to mediate an end to the crisis had said on Tuesday that Gbagbo promised to allow free access to the hotel that has become home to Alassane Ouattara, the man the world says won a November election. With no visible progress in the confrontation between the two presidents that has seen at least 180 people killed, mediators said that “there should be no vacuum” as they scrambled to send another crisis mission to Abidjan. West African military chiefs have set in motion plans to oust Gbagbo if negotiations fail.
Security and Defence Forces roadblocks barring access to the Golf Hotel where Ouattara and his camp have been besieged since violence flared after the disputed November election were still in place at 1000 GMT.
Security forces at one roadblock told an AFP journalist that access was “closed”, and at another indicated that she should do a U-turn as she approached. The hotel has been protected by around 800 UN peacekeepers as well as former rebels allied with Ouattara since Gbagbo troops shot dead several of his supporters as they marched on state TV on Dec 16.
The African Union’s mediator, Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga, said in a statement on Wednesday that “Mr Gbagbo has kept his word on the blockade which he lifted at around midday yesterday.” Odinga’s spokesman said that the premier would be heading for AU headquarters to brief the continental body on the mediators’ mission before returning to Abidjan “very soon.”
