Thursday, January 6, 2011

Côte d'Ivoire: Ouattara wants a commando operation to "remove" Gbagbo

Alassane Ouattara, recognized President Cote d'Ivoire by the international community has called for Thursday, January 6 commando action "nonviolent" of West Africa to hunt Laurent Gbagbo's power and "take it elsewhere." "If he persists, he belongs to the ECOWAS [Economic Community of West Africa] to take the necessary measures and these measures may include legitimate force," he said at a conference Press at his headquarters in the Hotel du Golf d'Abidjan, blockaded forces loyal to the regime.

After another unsuccessful mediation on Tuesday, the West African organization has again brandished the threat of a military operation to secure the withdrawal of the incumbent president and resolve the crisis arising from the election on November 28. Armed intervention is being prepared, but the company remains a high-risk "last resort".

"The legitimate force does not mean a force against the Ivorians. It is a force to remove Laurent Gbagbo and this has been done elsewhere in Africa and Latin America," said Mr. Ouattara. "There are special operations that allow non-violent simply take the undesirable person and take him elsewhere." "Laurent Gbagbo will leave before the end of January," he further assured.

"I have a whole series of ongoing measures that will make it go down like a fruit, not ripe, but like a rotten fruit," he said, without saying more about these "measures". Holed up in his headquarters while his opponent is installed at the presidential palace and army control and administration, Mr.

Ouattara multiplied in recent days after the speeches have long been virtually silent during the crisis. And if he preferred a "peaceful solution", he uses an aggressive style that left far his Prime Minister, Guillaume Soro, leader of the former rebel New Forces (FN). Blaming a Gbagbo "outlaws", he said he considered him "responsible for all (the) crimes" and "assassinations" that have marked these weeks of turmoil.

In late December, the Gbagbo government, including Defense Forces and Security (SDS) have been questioned repeatedly by the United Nations had reported fifty-three deaths since the election, including fourteen from the SDS. But for the UN since mid-December balance reaches two hundred and ten killed, thirty-one in the past week, including clashes between communities in the West.

A Duekoue, some 500 kilomères west of Abidjan, violence between ethnic Malinke Guéré and caused fourteen killed, said Thursday Munzu Simon, chief of the Division of Human Rights of the UN Operation Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI). "What happened in Duekoue is a reflection of the trend toward tensions, communal violence," he added, stressing that "there has always been" such tensions, especially in this region populated by various ethnic groups and foreigners.

Interviewed by telephone, Dr. Moses Teki, the hospital Duekoue, pointed to "forty-one people injured by bullets or knives." "Calm has returned, but the tension persists." Against this backdrop of violence, political deadlock remains complete, illustrated by both the offensive speech of Mr.

Ouattara as the continuing blockade of the Hotel du Golf. A blockade that Gbagbo does not lift until the FN elements that protect his rival will not have left the scene, warned his foreign minister, Alcide Djedje. This close to Mr. Gbagbo has rejected any offer of "amnesty" to the outgoing president in exchange for his departure, raised by African mediation, and rejected the idea of exile in the United States: "President Gbagbo n ' no need to go to Washington, he is where he is, he will remain where it is.

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