Instability fears heightenas Gbagbo refuses to go

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (AP):

Fears of renewed fighting grew Monday in Ivory Coast following a threat from West African neighbours to force out incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo if he does not soon heed international calls to step down from power.

West African leaders are giving Gbagbo a final chance this week to step aside, though he has shown no interest in doing so since the demand was made late Friday. While doubts exist about whether the region could carry out such a military operation, residents remain fearful of the violence it could unleash if attempted.

Dozens of people gathered outside the Nigerian embassy in Abidjan on Monday, holding signs that read: "We don't want a military intervention" and "Let Ivorians solve Ivorian problems." Nigeria has the strongest army in the region and is expected to play a major role if an operation is launched to oust Gbagbo.

The United Nations (UN) declared that Alassane Ouattara won the presidential run-off election held nearly one month ago, but Gbagbo refuses to concede defeat and leave, despite admonitions from the UN, United States, European Union and the African Union.

General strike

Ouattara's supporters called for a general strike to begin Monday to step up the pressure, but shops were open and it was business as usual in central Abidjan by mid-morning.

In an interview with Associated Press Television News on Sunday, Gbagbo said he was not concerned about world opinion, insisting he was duly elected. He said of his detractors: "Maybe they do not want me, I admit it, but I am not looking to be loved by them. I respect and abide by the Ivorians' vote."

The UN has said at least 173 people have been killed in violence over the vote, heightening fears that the country, once divided in two, could return to civil war. The toll is believed to be much higher, though, as the UN mission has been blocked from investigating other reports, including an allegation of a mass grave.

Human rights groups have expressed alarm about hundreds of arrests, and dozens of cases of torture and disappearances since the vote that they blame on security forces associated with Gbagbo. A Gbagbo adviser has said he does not believe their supporters could be behind the violence.

Supporter violence

Gbagbo supporters say at least 36 of the victims were police or other security forces who were targeted by gunfire coming from protesters.

Gbagbo has been in power since 2000 and had already overstayed his mandate by five years when the long-delayed presidential election was finally held in October. The vote was intended to help reunify the country, which was divided by the 2002-2003 civil war into a rebel-controlled north and a loyalist south.

Instead, the election has renewed divisions that threaten to plunge the country back into civil war. While Ivory Coast was officially reunited in a 2007 peace deal, Ouattara still draws his support from the northern half of the country, where residents feel they are often treated as foreigners within their own country by southerners.

As part of a peace accord, the UN had been invited to certify the election results and declared Ouattara as the winner of the November 28 run-off vote. But a Gbagbo ally overturned those results by throwing out half a million ballots from Ouattara strongholds in the north. The move angered people who had waited for years as officials settled who would be allowed to vote in the long-delayed election, differentiating between Ivorians with roots in neighbouring countries and foreigners.