The presidents of Benin, Sierra Leone and Cape Verde also visited last week without result, and this time they were being joined by Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga. No developments were announced.
Results tallied by the country’s electoral commission and certified by the United Nations showed Gbagbo lost the November election by a nearly 9-point margin to opposition leader Alassane Ouattara. Gbagbo has clung to power with the backing of the army, and human rights groups accuse his security forces of abducting and killing hundreds of political opponents. The UN says it also has been barred entry from two suspected mass graves.
A Ouattara spokesman said Gbagbo still has options on the table if he goes peacefully, but that those opportunities will dwindle if he refuses to go.
“People are still saying that if he is ready to step down, the doors are open and there will be places for him to go. We’re only asking him to go peacefully,” said Patrick Achi. “If he is taken by force, I don’t see where he’ll be able to go.” The three visiting presidents represent the Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS, a 15-member regional bloc that is threatening military action to seat Ouattara. Kenya’s prime minister is representing the African Union.
Gbagbo has dismissed the international condemnation as “a foreign plot” led by France, the country’s former colonizer. In a break with the past though, the African leaders also have taken a stance against one of their own.
Col. Mohammed Yerima, a Nigerian military spokesman, said defense chiefs from ECOWAS members met on Friday to begin strategizing what sort of assault they’d use if talks fail.
Gbagbo, who came to power in 2000 and ruled during a brief civil war, overstayed his mandate that expired in 2005, claiming the country was too unstable to organize a poll.
The election was finally held after it had been scheduled and then canceled at least six times.
In the lead-up to the November runoff, his party’s slogan was: “Either we win. Or we win.” Some have taken that to mean he never intended to step down, regardless of the results.
For several days after the vote, Gbagbo loyalists tried to prevent the election commission from releasing the outcome, and once the results were out, the constitutional council led by a Gbagbo adviser overturned them by canceling half a million ballots from opposition strongholds.
Gbagbo’s government then imposed a media blackout, yanking foreign channels off the air. He called on the United Nations peacekeeping mission to leave the country, accusing them of backing his opponent, who is holed up in a hotel in Abidjan.
