UN force refuses to leave

THE United Nations peacekeeping force in Ivory Coast risked provoking a showdown with isolated leader Laurent Gbagbo’s hardline supporters yesterday, refusing his demand that it pack its bags and go.

Gbagbo ordered the 10,000-strong UN mission to leave on Saturday, accusing it of arming rebels loyal to his rival Alassane Ouattara, but UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon dismissed the ultimatum and called on him to step down.

Both Gbagbo and Ouattara claim to have won last month’s presidential vote but, while the latter has been recognised as the victor by the international community, the incumbent is clinging doggedly on to power.

Tension has reached boiling point in the commercial capital Abidjan, where violence erupted on Thursday during a protest march by Ouattara’s supporters, and where Gbagbo’s armed forces are in an uneasy stand-off with the UN.

“We’re going to continue our patrols, but we’re not seeking confrontation.

“There are sensitive areas where we don’t go near the presidency,” said Hamadoun Toure, of the United Nations Operation in Cote d’Ivoire (UNOCI).

State television rebroadcast a recording of Gbagbo’s spokeswoman reading the expulsion order every few hours, but there was no sign of an increase in tension near UN bases in Abidjan, although the streets were eerily quiet.