“You will be prosecuted,” says lead lawyer.
Ivory Coast leader Laurent Gbagbo remains defiant in the face of a global chorus of demands that he step down, as his most notorious lieutenant urged supporters to make ready to fight.
The United Nations, United States, European Union and Ivory Coast’s West African neighbours all demanded that Gbagbo cede power to his rival Alassane Ouattara after both men claimed to have won last month’s presidential vote.
But the veteran strongman retains control of the official armed forces and his supporters have vowed to fight on, turning their anger on UN peacekeepers, the former colonial power France and Ouattara’s Ivorian supporters.
“Play time is over,” declared Charles Ble Goude, Gbagbo’s minister for youth, who has been under UN sanctions since 2006 for “acts of violence by street militias, including beatings, rapes and extrajudicial killings”.
“We are going to defend the sovereignty of our country until the last drop of our sweat. I urge all Ivorians to make themselves ready for this combat. We are going to totally liberate our country.”
Ble Goude, who is best known as leader of the Young Patriot movement that led attacks on French interests and opposition supporters during a previous crisis in Ivory Coast in 2004, summoned his followers to a rally Saturday.
His involvement in the 2004 violence saw him named on a United Nations list of extremists subject to international travel bans and asset freezes.
But he has remained a loyal supporter of Gbagbo, and has been the most outspoken member of his cabinet during the political crisis triggered by the disputed results of the November 28 presidential election.
While Gbagbo retains control of ministries and the armed forces, Ouattara is holed up in a luxury hotel protected by an 800-strong force of UN peacekeepers, and is endorsed by the former colonial power France.
In New York, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Ouattara must be allowed to take office, adding that “any other outcome would make a mockery of democracy and the rule of law.”
At a Brussels meeting of the European Union, France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy said Gbagbo must go “before the end of the week” to avoid being added to a list of Ivorians being targeted by EU visa bans and asset seizures.
“Gbagbo is clinging to power, his supporters are firing, there were people killed in the streets of Abidjan,” said Sarkozy. “There is no other possibility than for Gbagbo to leave as soon as possible an office he usurped.”
Warning “time is running out”, Washington said it was also prepared to impose targeted sanctions against Gbagbo if he tries to hold out.
These denouncements drew a scathing response from the youth minister.
“He’ll have to march over our corpses to get to Gbagbo,” warned Ble Goude, who is still nicknamed the “General of the Street” in Abidjan, calling on his followers to gather in the Yopougon district of the city.
Already street clashes between pro-Gbagbo security forces and Ouattara supporters left between 11 and 30 people dead, and the Red Cross has treated almost 550 wounded since the start of the stand-off.
Ble Goude’s call will increase fears that Ivory Coast is on the brink of a return to the days of the 2002-2004 civil war, and widespread fighting between Ouattara’s mainly northern Muslim supporters and Gbagbo’s southerners.
There were other signs positions were hardening. Opposition newspapers were prevented from publishing on Dec. 18, and there was an increased military and police presence across the sprawling port city of Abidjan.
On Dec 16, Ouattara made his move, calling on his supporters to march on the seat of RTI state television, the only local channel allowed to broadcast and a reliable propaganda tool of the incumbent Gbagbo regime.
They were met with gunfire and tear gas, as street battles erupted across the city. Amnesty International counted nine unarmed protesters shot dead by security forces, as the government said 10 of its own men were killed.
Ouattara’s choice for prime minister, Guillaume Soro, tried to break out of the luxury hotel where his government is holed up, protected by an 800-strong force of UN peacekeepers, but his former rebel fighters were repulsed.
At least two members of Soro’s former rebel New Forces (FN) were killed as they tried to leave the Golf Hotel and head for RTI, in a fierce gun battle that saw the nearby US embassy hit by a stray rocket-propelled grenade.
Against this backdrop, an African envoy visited Gbagbo to present him with a letter from Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, in his capacity as chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), urging him to go.
There was no official response from Gbagbo to the ultimatum but his loyal armed forces upped the ante by accusing the United Nations, which has 10,000 “blue helmet” peacekeepers in the country, of arming pro-Ouattara rebels.
“The Defence and Security Forces of the Ivory Coast call on the national and international community to bear witness to the fact that ONUCI no longer plays the role of a neutral force,” military spokesman Colonel Babri Gohourou said.
The United Nations has rejected such charges, but UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has said the ONUCI force will defend Ouattara’s base in the Golf Hotel and has warned Ivorian forces not to attack.
Meanwhile, the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) chief prosecutor has warned that those individuals in Ivory Coast who were plotting attacks would be prosecuted if deadly violence breaks out.
“If they start to kill people then it’s a crime and we will pursue them,” ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said. “The reality is that some people in Ivory
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written by Musinguzi, December 31, 2010
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