The European Union will tighten sanctions against incumbent Ivory Coast leader Laurent Gbagbo in January.
|||Brussels/Abuja - The European Union will tighten sanctions against incumbent Ivory Coast leader Laurent Gbagbo next month, expanding a list of his supporters to be targeted after a disputed election, diplomats said on Wednesday.
Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan also said three West African leaders would return to Abidjan for more talks with Gbagbo after the regional grouping Ecowas demanded he accept he lost last month's presidential election, or be removed by force.
The November 28 election was meant to reunite Ivory Coast, the world's top cocoa grower, after a 2002-03 civil war. But a dispute over the results has provoked clashes that have killed more than 170 people and threatens to restart open conflict.
Meeting in Brussels on Wednesday, representatives of the 27 EU governments agreed to impose additional measures on Gbagbo's supporters and increase the number of people targeted with travel restrictions and a freeze of their assets to 61 from 19.
“There was agreement in the hope of introducing the new measures in early January,” one EU diplomat told Reuters.
The EU first imposed sanctions on Gbagbo and his backers earlier in December to force him into relinquishing power after the election that world powers and African neighbours say he lost to his rival candidate, Alassane Ouattara.
In Abuja, Jonathan said the three presidents would return to Ivory Coast after they had met Gbagbo on Tuesday.
“They are going back on the 3rd of January and when they come back from this second visit the outcome will determine the next action,” Jonathan, who is also the chairperson of the Ecowas regional grouping, told reporters.
He was speaking after a briefing with the presidents of Benin, Sierra Leone and Cape Verde, who delivered the Ecowas ultimatum to Gbagbo. The grouping has threatened to use “legitimate force” if Gbagbo does not step aside but Ivorian military leaders have said they remain loyal to him.
The three presidents agreed to give Gbagbo a week to consider the message, officials in Cape Verde told Reuters on Wednesday.
Provisional election commission results showed Ouattara with an eight percentage-point victory but the figures were quickly overturned by the country's top court, run by a Gbagbo ally, over allegations of fraud.
The United States has also imposed sanctions on Gbagbo and his inner circle, while the World Bank and the West African regional central bank have cut his financing in an attempt to weaken his grip on power.
In Washington, the State Department said a small US military team is in Abidjan studying the possibility of evacuating US citizens should the unrest worsen.
Jonathan said he was hopeful intervention would not be needed. “Whenever there is a disagreement it is dialogue that resolves it. Dialogue is on,” he said.
Ecowas member state Gambia expressed doubts on Wednesday about the ultimatum. “The Gambia Government does not subscribe to the use of force (...) to solve disputed election results as that is interfering in the internal affairs of a member state which is illegal under both the Ecowas and AU (African Union) Charters,” a statement read over state television said.
The turmoil has pushed cocoa futures to four-month highs amid fears it could eventually disrupt exports. Ivory Coast's Eurobond, meanwhile, hit a record low last week on concern that the country would not meet a nearly $30-million bond payment due on December 31. - Reuters
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