African presidents tasked with resolving Côte d’Ivoire’s crisis began arriving in Abidjan on Monday to propose a solution, as Ivorian troops used live rounds to disperse protesters calling for Laurent Gbagbo to step down as leader.
A conflict over a disputed November election has paralysed the world’s top cocoa grower and killed about 300 people.
One source who had access to preparatory talks on Sunday said the African panel would insist that Gbagbo must stand down, in return for a number of guarantees, to allow rival Alassane Ouattara to take charge after winning the November 28 poll, according to United Nations-certified results.
There was no official statement from the leaders and Gbagbo has repeatedly rejected similar proposals.
The election, meant to reunite the country after a decade of economic stagnation and political crisis, has instead left it as divided as ever and in economic meltdown. Ouattara is widely recognised as the winner, but Gbagbo has refused to cede power.
Cocoa exports have dried up, pushing futures prices to fresh highs. International banks have shut down operations.
Ouattara’s government has called for a “revolution” to oust Gbagbo, but attempts to demonstrate over the weekend were crushed by pro-Gbagbo forces, who witnesses said killed at least five people when they opened fire on attempted gatherings.
In downtown Abidjan and the pro-Ouattara neighbourhoods of Koumassi and Abobo on Monday, residents reported gunfire all morning as soldiers and paramilitaries broke up attempted demonstrations, but there were no reports of casualties.
“The youth tried to march from this morning but soldiers turned up and started firing. The youths were burning tyres,” said Koumassi resident Didier Houndesso, an Ouattara supporter.
No going back for AU
The leaders of South Africa, Mauritania, Chad, Burkina Faso and Tanzania met in Mauritania on Sunday to discuss proposals drafted by African Union experts on Côte d’Ivoire.
“We could not go back on the previous decision made by the AU commission [which has recognised Ouattara as winner of the election],” said the source, who asked not to be named.
“It was considered that the two candidates could not co-exist, so a transfer of power with guarantees to the losing party was favoured … The high-level panel agreed on the path to be chosen but there are still many details to work out.”
The first to arrive was Chad’s President Idriss Déby Itno, according to an Agence France-Presse photographer. He was to be followed by Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz; South Africa’s Jacob Zuma; and Jikaya Kikwete from Tanzania.
Officials in Burkina Faso said President Blaise Compaore would not join the other four in Abidjan, giving no reason.
Gbagbo’s supporters have protested against Compaore’s inclusion on the AU panel. They say the president, accused of backing rebels who seized the north during the war before he became mediator in the crisis, is biased in favour of Ouattara.
Rival parallel governments
Ouattara and Gbagbo have formed rival parallel governments, though Ouattara remains restricted to a lagoon-side hotel protected by a ring of UN peacekeepers.
Witnesses said at least five people were killed over the weekend as pro-Gbagbo security forces fired tear gas and live rounds to disperse Ouattara supporters.
Citing the “rapid deterioration of the financial sector”, SIB, which is part of the Moroccan Attijariwafa Group, on Monday became the latest international bank to suspend operations in the country on Monday.
Nearly all other international banks have closed up shop and Gbagbo, who remains in power with the backing of the military despite international sanctions, had pledged to reopen on Monday two French banks nationalised last week.
But finance ministry sources said Gbagbo officials were due to meet with pro-Gbagbo staff in the Ivorian branches of Société Générale and BNP Paribas, with a view to re-opening them as nationalised banks on Tuesday. — Reuters, AFP