UN chief rejects Ivorien pullout

Laurent Gbagbo faced growing confrontation with foreign peacekeepers as the United Nations rejected his demand that they leave Cote d’Ivoire, in the tense aftermath of an election he insists he won and the outside world says he lost, Reuters reports.

The world‘s top cocoa grower is locked in a dispute over a November 28 presidential vote that both Gbagbo and rival, Alassane Ouattara claim to have won, Ouattara with backing from foreign governments and the UN Security Council.

A top Gbagbo aide said late on Saturday he would never step down and accused Western powers of attempting a ”recolonisation” of the West African state, by installing their ”puppet.”

Election commission results showed Ouattara won by some eight percent. But Gbagbo claims victory with backing from the Constitutional Council, headed by an ally, which erased nearly half a million votes in Ouattara strongholds, alleging fraud.

The United Nations, former colonial power France, the United States, the European Union, the African Union and West African regional bloc ECOWAS have all urged Gbagbo to admit defeat and accept an offer of exile.

“That is unimaginable,” Gbagbo aide Pascal Affi N‘Guessan told Reuters in an interview.

”Everyone involved in this crisis needs to exclude this hypothesis of Gbagbo leaving from their schemes.”

Ouattara has said he is only willing to talk to Gbagbo if he steps aside.

Gbagbo‘s Young Patriot supporters were due to a hold a rally close to Abidjan airport on Sunday. Their leader, Ble Goude, who is also Gbagbo‘s youth minister, has called on them to ”liberate” Cote d’Ivoire and defend its sovereignty.

Gbagbo‘s government said on state TV it wanted the UN peacekeeping and French forces out of the country, accusing them of interfering in Cote d’Ivoire internal affairs, after the UN envoy recognized Ouattara.

UN Secretary-General Ban ki-moon responded with his own statement issued by UN spokesman Farhan Haq, who made clear the force had no intention of pulling out. Diplomats said he had no authority to kick them out as he lost the poll.

”We consider this intolerable interference in our affairs,” N‘Guessan said. ”It obeys their interests to side with Ouattara. We consider this a conspiracy ... even a recolonisation.”

The UN mission includes some 10,000 soldiers and police, and is supported by the French LICORNE force. Hundreds of peacekeepers have been deployed to defend Ouattara‘s makeshift headquarters in Abidjan‘s lagoon-side Golf Hotel.
Source:http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201012200404926