/ 25 January 2011

AU chief to meet Côte d’Ivoire’s rival presidents

Au Chief To Meet Côte D'ivoire's Rival Presidents

The 53-nation African Union made another bid on Tuesday to end a dispute over the Côte d’Ivoire leadership, with its chief flying into the country to meet both men who claim to be president.

Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika, who has already called on Laurent Gbagbo to give up power to “avoid a bloodbath”, flew into Abidjan Airport on an unannounced visit that comes days ahead of an AU summit.

He “is coming to see the two presidents,” an African diplomat told Agence France-Presse (AFP) without giving details.

Mutharika was met by a delegation from Gbagbo’s government, headed by his prime minister Ake N’Gbo, an AFP photographer said.

He is the latest in a series of African leaders to visit Côte d’Ivoire, although none has been able to persuade Gbagbo to hand over power to Alassane Ouattara, internationally recognised winner of November 28 elections.

Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga visited last week on behalf of the AU but left after making no breakthrough.

A separate West African body, Ecowas, has threatened military intervention to force Gbagbo to leave after its envoys also failed to make him budge.

Call for use of force
Nigeria’s Foreign Minister, Odein Ajumogobia, on Monday called on the United Nations Security Council to authorise Ecowas to use force in Côte d’Ivoire.

The 15-nation Ecowas “requires unequivocal international support through an appropriate United Nations Security Council resolution to sanction the use of force”, he said.

Ecowas envoys would travel to the United States to meet President Barack Obama and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon this week, he said on Tuesday, confirming Nigerian media reports on the planned meetings.

“True,” he said in a brief message, but declined to give further details, saying he was boarding a flight to the US.

Sierra Leone President Ernest Koroma is leading the team, according to Nigerian media. Ecowas commission president James Victor Gbeho was also part of the delegation, the reports said.

The meeting with Obama is expected to take place Wednesday, while the envoys are to meet Ban on Thursday.

Post-election violence has already left 260 people dead in Côte d’Ivoire, while about 29 000 have fled into neighbouring Liberia.

The refugees had moved into 23 villages along the border with Côte d’Ivoire, which were overwhelmed, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf said in an address late Monday.

“Our citizens have been sharing their rice and other produce recently harvested, but they are now overwhelmed, and camps are being built to hold the many thousands of our Ivorian brothers and sisters,” she said.

Reassurance
But the country, ravaged by a series of wars between 1989 and 2003, would not allow its own stability to be threatened, she said.

“I want to reassure the Liberian people that we will not let this sad situation threaten our peace. We will work with regional and international partners to find a resolution,” she said.

In a bid to financially strangle Gbagbo, who has the backing of the army, Ouattara on Tuesday ordered a one-month halt to cocoa and coffee exports, immediately sending world prices of cocoa soaring.

The Côte d’Ivoire is the world’s largest producer and exporter of cocoa, and the 12th of coffee.

The US said it supported the call, while the European Union said would wait to see the effect of its own sanctions on Gbagbo and 87 Ivorians alleged to be helping him to hang on to power.

“It is part of our strategy to deny Laurent Gbagbo the resources so that he continue to buy support from the military and political actors. And we hope that this will help convince him to step aside,” US State Department spokesperson Philip Crowley told reporters. — AFP