LUSAKA, Wednesday
An influential opponent of Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo called today for a targeted commando strike against the leader who is resisting calls to step down after a disputed election in November. Gbagbo’s rival Alassane Ouattara was proclaimed winner of the vote by the electoral commission and is internationally recognised as president-elect, but Gbagbo has refused to go, alleging vote-rigging by the opposition.
Guillaume Soro, Ouattara’s prime minister, said in a visit to Zambia to rally support for Gbagbo’s ouster: "A targeted commando military operation will be the quickest and most efficient way of removing Gbagbo from power because dialogue has failed."
"A military operation which only targets Gbagbo and the soldiers supporting him will spare us civilian casualties," he told a news briefing.
No appetite
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Despite threats by regional leaders to remove Gbagbo by force if he declines to step down, there is little appetite among the country’s neighbours for large-scale military intervention that could cause more bloodshed.
Cracks emerged yesterday in African efforts to end the power struggle in Ivory Coast, as Uganda became the latest country to question United Nations recognition of Ouattara as its president. The split illustrated the potential for rows at an African Union summit in Addis Ababa this week when the 53-nation group must decide its next steps after the disputed Nov. 28 presidential election in the world’s biggest cocoa-producing country.
Embassy seizure
Meanwhile, supporters of Ivory Coast’s Alassane Ouattara had to break through the main gates of the country’s embassy in Paris yesterday into order to install the presidential claimant’s choice as ambassador to France. Ouattara is locked in a power struggle with Laurent Gbagbo, after being declared winner of a November 28 election by United Nations-certified results before they were overturned by a pro-Gbagbo legal body, which alleged fraud.
About 50 Ouattara supporters cheered outside the embassy in western Paris as Ally Coulibaly entered the building, which had been vacated by Gbagbo’s staff at the end of December.
—Reuters
