Ivory Coast leader demands unity as peace process falters

IVORY Coast President Laurent Gbagbo insisted the opposition rejoin the country’s unity government after violent clashes claimed at least 25 lives and brought the peace process to the brink of collapse.

“The people who walked away from the ministerial table must return. They can’t behave like spoiled children,” Mr Gbagbo said in Abidjan.

“The departure of Haiti’s president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, has given certain Ivorians ideas. But President Gbagbo is not Aristide and Ivory Coast isn’t Haiti,” he said.