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UN Ready to Impose Sanctions on Gbagbo After AU Backs Ouattara

11 March 2011 22:04 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. The United Nations Security Council said itâ€™s ready to impose sanctions against incumbent Ivory Coast leader Laurent Gbagbo, his family and top aides after the African Union said Alassane Ouattara is the legal president of the worldâ€™s leading cocoa producer, APA reports quoting â€œBusiness Weekâ€.
The UN council welcomed an African Union statement that Ouattara won the Nov. 28 election and stated its â€œreadiness to impose measures, including targeted sanctions, against all parties who obstruct the attempts of a speedy and peaceful solution of the crisis,â€ Ambassador Li Baodong of China, the Security Councilâ€™s president this month, told reporters in New York today.
The African Union and Security Council positions may revive a bid by the U.S., the U.K and France to impose sanctions on Gbagbo, his wife and three top aides. Russia resisted the move, first proposed in February, saying African Union mediation should be given more time to resolve the conflict. The proposed sanctions require the unanimous consent of all 15 members of the Security Council.
The U.S. and its European allies targeted Gbagbo, his wife, Simone, Chief of Staff Desire Tagro, Foreign Minister Ilahiri Djedje and Pascal Affi Nâ€™Guessan, head of the Ivorian Popular Front. They would be subject to an asset freeze and travel ban.
The African Union said yesterday it plans to send a representative to Ivory Coast to spur the creation of a national unity government headed by Ouattara, the internationally recognized winner of the Nov. 28 election.
The 53-member regional bloc has already sent Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga and a delegation of five presidents, including South Africaâ€™s Jacob Zuma, to mediate a solution with Gbagbo, who refuses to cede power.
AU Seeks Solution
â€œWe will not take no for an answer,â€ the groupâ€™s Peace and Security Commissioner Ramtane Lamamra told reporters late yesterday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where the organization has its headquarters.
Ivory Coast is on the brink of civil war, with at least 365 people killed since the disputed elections, according to the UN. Gbagbo retains the loyalty of the armed forces, while Ouattara has set up a rival administration in the Golf Hotel in the commercial capital, Abidjan, protected by UN peacekeepers.
Cocoa fell for a fourth day in New York, on course for the biggest weekly drop in more than a year, as Gbagbo threatened to seize inventories. Cocoa for May delivery fell $45, or 1.3 percent, to $3,400 a metric ton at 11:43 a.m. on ICE Futures U.S. in New York. Prices are down 7 percent this week, the most since the week ended Jan. 29, 2010. Cocoa for May delivery lost 1.3 percent to 2,214 pounds ($3,547) a ton on NYSE Liffe in London.
Violence Predicted
If no solution is found, â€œIvory Coast is likely to sink into widespread violence, with incalculable consequences for the country, as well as for the region and the continent as a whole,â€ the AU said in a statement to reporters yesterday.
A representative of Gbagbo said the AU should â€œlook againâ€ at its decision, Lamamra said.
The proposal was welcomed by Ouattara, who told reporters in Addis Ababa yesterday that an â€œhonorable exitâ€ will be devised for Gbagbo.
Anne Ouloto, a spokeswoman for Ouattara, declined to say how he left Ivory Coast in order to attend the meeting in Addis Ababa.
â€œHe did not need the agreement of Laurent Gbagbo to leave the country, he wonâ€™t need it to come back,â€ she said by phone yesterday.
On March 9, Gbagbo banned planes from the UN and French peacekeeping forces from landing in the West African nation. The UN mission said it would continue its flight operations.
South Africa Position
South Africa, which previously said the election result was â€œinconclusiveâ€ and declined to back either of the rival leaders, today came out in support of Ouattara being appointed president.
â€œThatâ€™s what the AU has pronounced,â€ International Relations Ministry spokesman Clayson Monyela said by telephone from Pretoria. â€œSouth Africa fully supports that position.â€
The UN mission in Ivory Coast is documenting â€œwar crimesâ€ committed in post-election violence, Young-jin Choi, the missionâ€™s chief, told reporters today in Abidjan.
â€œDonâ€™t think that you can commit human rights abuses in impunity,â€ Choi said. â€œThe moment that you will be judged is approaching fast.â€