Military intervention in Côte d’Ivoire will not necessarily trigger a civil war, presidential claimant Alassane Ouattara said on Wednesday.
Ouattara said he preferred a peaceful solution to the crisis but dismissed negotiating with Laurent Gbagbo, telling France 24 television that the incumbent must “leave power to allow Côte d’Ivoire to return to normal”.
Gbagbo has refused to cede power to Ouattara, widely seen as winner of a disputed November 28 election, despite international pressure, sanctions and the threat of force, and he has accused world leaders of meddling in Côte d’Ivoire’s internal affairs.
Ouattara’s aides have called for a regional West African force to make good on a threat to kick out Gbagbo if he refuses to go, but there are fears that the involvement of foreign forces could tip the country back into civil war.
“I think he will be responsible for the situation that he will face. Military intervention does not mean that Côte d’Ivoire will ignite,” Ouattara said of his rival.
“All that needs to be done, as has been done in other African countries, is to come and get Gbagbo and remove him from the presidential palace.”
Ouattara said an offer this week by Gbagbo to negotiate an end to the crisis was just an attempt to buy time in order to recruit mercenaries to kill Ivorians and smuggle money out.”
Côte d’Ivoire security forces on Wednesday maintained a near total blockade of the hotel where Ouattara is holed up under United Nations guard, despite a promise by Gbagbo to ease it.
A heavy military and police presence was still sealing off roads leading to the lagoon-side Golf Hotel, turning away all cars that tried to pass.
“Mr, don’t try and come through here. Turn your car around and don’t argue,” a soldier wielding an AK-47 said.
Military sources were not immediately available for comment.
Only UN helicopters and supply trucks have had access to the hotel since mid-December.
Gbagbo is backed by his security forces, some Ivorian youth and militia groups, and the Constitutional Council, which overturned Ouattara’s eight percentage point election win, alleging fraud.
Mediation games
After efforts at mediation by four African leaders on Monday, Gbagbo agreed to ease the blockade on Ouattara’s hotel and to continue talks to end the crisis.
An end to the stand-off seems a long way off, with Gbagbo showing no signs of yielding.
“The approach of the international community merely shows the contempt with which it deals with Ivorian institutions,” the state-run Fraternite Matin newspaper said in an editorial.
More than 170 people have been killed since the dispute started, rekindling divisions in the country that have festered since the civil war of 2002/03.
Diplomats and security sources say many of the dead are victims of death squads operating at night in neighbourhoods where Ouattara is popular, and the UN says hundreds more have been kidnapped by Ivorian forces and allied militias.
Gbagbo’s camp says these are lies meant to discredit him.
In a statement on Wednesday, the UN mission condemned what it called human rights violations, including a raid by security forces on Ouattara’s party headquarters on Tuesday.
That raid killed one activist and left many people wounded, including some security forces, according to state media.
“The raids by armed elements sent by Gbagbo’s camp led to many arbitrary arrests,” the UN statement said. — Reuters