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Ivory Coast: Laurent Gbagbo is willing to talk, but not to withdraw

By on December 13, 2010
The international community continues to exert strong pressure on Gbagbo to leave after ten years in power. He must “measure the consequences” of these «unanimous signals” the French Foreign Ministry said.

Given this near-unanimity, Laurent Gbagbo is trying to find a way out. He is suggesting to dialogue and demands “to sit and talk”. There will be no war in Côte d’Ivoire, he said. But the current tension is nevertheless raising fears of an armed confrontation in the country, and bringing back the risk of a civil war after the failed coup of September 2002, which cut the country into a loyalist south and the north held by the former rebel New Forces (FN). However with the strong and broad international support, but so far with no apparent leverage to effectively exercise power, the  Ouattara camp does not seem ready to negotiate with the incumbent, and aims to control the state apparatus and calls the Army to consider the legality of the ballot and recognize Ouattara as its “supreme leader”. However the Army reaction so far was harsh and still faithful Gbagbo and warned the French army detachment to stay away from the Ivory Coast internal problem, recalling what happened in 2004. Meanwhile, the new Gbagbo government is gradually taking more audience, strengthening a sense of normalcy in particular in the capital, Abidjan, where people have gone back to work. Meanwhile, the Ouattara government, headed by the Prime Minister and leader of the FN, Guillaume Soro, is meeting in a hotel, under the care of U.N peacekeepers and FN elements.

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