UN envoy says Ouattara won as Gbagbo camp names Cabinet
New Ivorian Prime minister Guillaume Soro (3rdL), Minister and secretary-general of the Presidency Amadou Gon Coulibaly, Minister of Interior Hamed Bakayoko (R) and Minister of Justice and Human Rights Jeannot Kouadio Ahoussou (behind Soro), are pictured at the end of a cabinet meeting of the new government after the United Nations recognised Alassane Ouattara as the new President, on December 6, 2010 at Golf Hotel in Abidjan. AFP
UNITED NATIONS, Tuesday
A top UN envoy told the UN Security Council today that opposition leader Alassane Ouattara won Cote d’Ivoire’s disputed presidential election.
“There was only one winner — with a clear margin,” Mr Choi Young-Jin, special representative of the UN secretary general in Cote d’Ivoire, told the council.
Meanwhile, an aide to Cote d’Ivoire’s incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo announced a new government today, rivalling the one declared by Mr Ouattara.
Mr Gbagbo’s new chief of staff, his hardline ally Desire Tagro, read out the names of the ministers to reporters after the cabinet held its first meeting at the presidential palace in Abidjan.
They included former ambassador to the United Nations Alcide Djedje as the foreign minister and Charles Ble Goude, the leader of the fiercely pro-Gbagbo Young Patriots student movement as minister for youth.
Mr Gbagbo, 65, who has been in power for 10 years, faces wide international pressure to step down after the United Nations and other powers recognised Mr Ouattara as the rightful president.
Gbagbo’s allies crowned him president after annulling election results that gave Mr Ouattara victory, alleging irregularities following an election marred by clashes said to have left at least 20 people dead.
Meanwhile, US President Barack Obama wrote to Mr Gbagbo urging him to cede power to Mr Ouattara, a US official told AFP in Washington, adding that the United States, like the European Union, would consider sanctions on Mr Gbagbo if he clings on.
Meanwhile, West African leaders held a special summit on Cote d’Ivoire today, under pressure to take action to help resolve the country’s political standoff as fears of unrest intensify. Ivorian leaders were not invited to the summit of the 15-member Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in Nigeria, though the country is a member of the organisation.
Leaders from Burkina Faso, Senegal, Mali, Liberia, Togo, Ghana and Nigeria gathered behind closed doors in Abuja. One diplomat said no other leaders were expected.
Ecowas has already issued a strongly worded statement on the crisis condemning Mr Gbagbo and calling on him to accept results showing Mr Ouattara won presidential elections.
The summit comes at a critical time, with fears of unrest and the threat of sanctions looming while international mediators seek to settle the crisis.
Ex-South African president Thabo Mbeki was dispatched urgently Sunday by the 53-member African Union as Gbagbo defied international calls to cede power, but he ended his visit without any apparent breakthrough. (AFP)
