Mbeki begins mediation in Ivory Coast election crisis

Sun, 05 Dec 2010

Nairobi/Abidjan - Former South African leader Thabo Mbeki on Sunday began mediating between the two men laying claim to Ivory Coast's presidency in an effort to head off conflict in the West African nation.

The incumbent Laurent Gbagbo, 65, and his rival Alassane Ouattara, who were contesting an election supposed to put to bed the ghost of the 2002 civil war, on Saturday both conducted swearing-in ceremonies amid rising tensions in the world's biggest cocoa grower.

The nation's electoral commission on Thursday declared Ouattara, 68, the winner of last Sunday's run-off poll - a result recognized by the international community - only for a Gbagbo ally heading up the constitutional council to overrule the decision.

Mbeki was sent by the African Union to resolve a crisis the 53- nation bloc said could have "incalculable consequences for the country, as well as for the region and the continent as a whole."

The former South African president - who mediated during the civil war that split the nation into the rebel, mainly Muslim north and Christian-majority, government-controlled south - met Gbagbo and the United Nations special representative YJ Choi.

He was due to meet Ouattara, a former prime minister and senior International Monetary Fund official, later in the day.

"I am going to meet everyone to get a general overview ... I can't engage in conclusions," he said after meeting Gbagbo, according to a statement on the presidency's website.

Gbagbo is under intense pressure from the international community, including the United States, United Nations, African Union and former colonial master France, to abide by the electoral commission's decision.

However, he so far has shown no sign of cracking and has the backing of the army. The regime has closed its borders and blocked the signals of all foreign television and radio news services. An overnight curfew is in place.

UN head Ban Ki-moon is backing the stance of Choi, who said the electoral commission results were valid. Gbagbo, speaking at his swearing in, dismissed the outside interference.

"I have never called on someone from outside to put me in office," Gbagbo said in an apparent rebuke to Choi, who said the Ivory Coast government had earlier authorized him to certify the vote.

The constitutional court annulled votes from seven regions in Ouattara strongholds in the north, claiming irregularities, but Choi said even if all the complaints by Gbagbo's camp were taken into account, the outcome of vote would still have balanced in Ouattara's favor.

Ouattara is backed by the former northern rebel group New Forces, headed by Prime Minister Guillaume Soro, who resigned in protest on Saturday.

"We recognize that Alassane Ouattara is the winner of the this election ... I decided to go give him my resignation from the government and as prime minister," Soro said in a statement on his party's website.

Ouattara immediately reinstated Soro.

There have been violent protests on the streets of Abidjan, with Ouattara supporters erecting flaming barricades, and unconfirmed reports of deaths, since Gbagbo claimed victory.

More than a dozen people had already died in clashes linked to the poll before the latest twist.

UN human rights chief Navi Pillay, Ban and US President Barack Obama warned the two candidates they would be held to account for any further violence carried out by their supporters, while the International Criminal Court also said it was monitoring events.

Ivory Coast has been in crisis since 2002 when Gbagbo, who came to power in the wake of violent demonstrations at the 2000 presidential elections, survived a coup attempt.

The failed coup sparked the brief civil war. A 2007 peace deal brought the rebels into government through Soro.

The presidential poll had been postponed six times since 2005.