Call for Tougher Measures Against Ivory Coast Leader
By ADAM NOSSITER
Published: January 24, 2011
DAKAR, Senegal — The international effort to isolate and dislodge Laurent Gbagbo, who lost a presidential election in Ivory Coast last year but refuses to step down, continues to mount, with West African leaders moving to cut off vital sources of cash and renewing threats of military intervention.
The foreign minister of Nigeria, the regional powerhouse, called Monday for a United Nations Security Council resolution authorizing the use of force against Mr. Gbagbo, suggesting what may be a stepping-away from diplomacy after negotiations by the African Union failed last week.
The crisis has been “single-handedly precipitated by Mr. Laurent Gbagbo,” wrote the foreign minister, Odein Ajumogobia, in the Nigerian newspaper Next on Monday, adding that Mr. Gbagbo “is determined to defy and treat the entire international community with absolute disdain.”
Mr. Ajumogobia wrote: “He cannot, he must not be allowed to prevail.”
As military planning continues — regional defense chiefs met last week to discuss possible intervention — Mr. Gbagbo may find himself increasingly short on cash to meet his critical military and civil service payroll of around $100 million a month. On Saturday, the governor of the Central Bank of West African States, a Gbagbo ally from his home region, was forced out by regional heads of state after he failed to cut off Mr. Gbagbo’s access to the country’s accounts, a step regional finance ministers had announced in December.
The bank governor, Philippe-Henri Dacoury-Tabley, had allowed Mr. Gbagbo to withdraw as much as $200 million despite the ban, according to a spokesman for the man the world recognizes as the winner of Ivory Coast’s presidential election, Alassane Ouattara.
Late Sunday, Mr. Ouattara called for a one-month halt to coffee and cocoa exports, the main source of revenue for the government, which draws about $1.6 billion a year in taxes and duties from cocoa alone. “Those who violate this measure will be considered as financing the activities of the illegitimate administration of Mr. Laurent Gbagbo,” said a statement from Mr. Ouattara’s government, which operates from a hotel in Abidjan.
It was unclear how Mr. Ouattara intended to enforce the measure, as state institutions — the military, the civil service and the ports — are in the hands of those loyal to Mr. Gbagbo, and cocoa companies have so far not halted their business. Still, the price of cocoa shot up on Monday.
Last week, the European Union imposed a ban on doing business with the country’s ports, as well as the freezing of the European-held assets of various Ivorian firms and banks, including the ports, the state broadcasters and the national oil company.
“It’s all about taking the reins of power step-by-step,” a spokesman for Mr. Ouattara, Apollinaire Yapi, said Monday by telephone from Abidjan.
A Gbagbo spokesman denounced the removal of Mr. Dacoury-Tabley on state television this weekend, saying it was “dangerous to mix politics with monetary and financial affairs.” The spokesman, Ahoua Don Mello, added that the “decision of the heads of state seems precipitous and inappropriate.”
A Gbagbo spokesman denounced the removal of Mr. Dacoury-Tabley on state television this weekend, saying it was “dangerous to mix politics with monetary and financial affairs.” The spokesman, Ahoua Don Mello, added that the “decision of the heads of state seems precipitous and inappropriate.”
That IMO is one of the most ridiculous statements I have ever heard, ...politics ALWAYS involves monetary & financial affairs. Philippe-Henri Dacoury-Tabley was indeed appropriate. Gbagbo is NOT the democratically elected head of state and therefore should NOT have access to state funds, ...especially when Gbagbo seems intent on looting the treasury in order to retain his hold on power.
