Ivory Coast's Gbagbo rejects diplomats' efforts to end power struggle

African Union plan to stem violence across country cannot solve disputed election crisis, say envoys of voted-out president

guardian.co.uk, Reuters, Thursday 10 March 2011 19.32 GMT

Unicef vaccinates children in Ivory Coast this month in a refuge sheltering
people fleeing forces backing incumbent leader Gbagbo, or his rival,
Ouattara. Photograph: Thierry Gouegnon/Reuters

Envoys of Ivory Coast's voted-out leader, Laurent Gbagbo, have rejected an African Union proposal aimed at ending the country's violent power struggle and warned that the nation risks civil war again.

Rebels based in the north of the country who back the rival politician Alassane Ouattara immediately reaffirmed their position that only military force would persuade Gbagbo to step down.

The AU talks in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, have been seen as a last chance to broker a compromise after the disputed November presidential election that triggered violence killing hundreds and led to about half a million Ivorians fleeing their homes.

Gbagbo argues that UN-certified results – showing that he lost in the elections to Ouattara – were rigged. His aides said they could not accept a proposal from an AU panel that was based on an endorsement of Ouattara as elected president.

"The panel is incapable of giving us any argument that would justify this decision," Pascal Affi N'Guessan, leader of Gbagbo's Ivorian Popular Front, told reporters at the talks. N'Guessan did not give details of the AU proposal but sources at the talks said it had suggested a unity government headed by Ouattara.

New Forces rebels who still control northern Ivory Coast after the previous conflict said they were not surprised by the outcome. "The New Forces always knew Gbagbo would never agree to quit power … by the diplomatic route. That is why the New Forces see no other option but force to make him leave," said Sekonga Felicien, an FN spokesman.

The three-month crisis has pushed futures of its top product, cocoa, through three-decade highs as international sanctions and Ouattara's appeal for a suspension of exports have together strangled supplies to world markets.

Ahead of the talks, Barack Obama said he was appalled by the killing of unarmed civilians in Ivory Coast and that it was time for Gbagbo to step down. "[His] efforts to hold on to power at the expense of his own country are an assault on the universal rights of his people and the democracy that the Côte d'Ivoire deserves," Obama said in a statement.

About 400 people have been killed, according to UN and other estimates, although Abidjan-based diplomats believe the toll could be much higher.

The New Forces have declared their backing for Ouattara – who is reviled by many Gbagbo allies because his father was from Burkina Faso – and have in past weeks seized a string of towns in the west from Gbagbo forces.

Aid agencies said this week 450,000 Ivorians had been uprooted, with 70,000 having crossed into Liberia where refugee camps are overflowing.

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