World leaders made it clear on Wednesday that the Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) has only one legitimate president—opposition leader Alassane Ouattara. Both Ouattara and incumbent president Laurent Gbagbo claimed victory and were sworn in as president after a Nov. 28 runoff election.
The United Nations Security Council passed a resolution endorsing Ouattara’s victory and warned Gbagbo not to try to hold on to power.
“The members of the Security Council condemn in the strongest possible terms any effort to subvert the popular will of the people or undermine either the integrity of the electoral process or the free and fair elections in Côte d'Ivoire,” stated a Security Council press statement.
The White House also endorsed Ouattara and made it clear that Gbagbo should respect the results. “The Ivorian people have chosen Mr. Alassane Ouattara with an irrefutable margin as the winner over current president Gbagbo,” said State Department spokesman Philip Crowley at a briefing on Wednesday.
Choi Young-jin, the UN secretary-general’s special representative in Côte d’Ivoire, told the UN Security Council by video conference from Nigeria’s Abuja that he had analyzed and evaluated 20,000 ballots and that the elections results clearly indicated Alassane Ouattara’s victory, according to the UN release.
“Ignoring the will of the Ivorian people at this stage would be a letdown of the people of Côte d’Ivoire and a waste of significant resources invested over the past eight years by the international community,” he added.
Choi’s analysis is in keeping with the results announced by the Côte d'Ivoire’s Independent Electoral Commission, an internationally composed body, which has stated that Ouattara had won the election with 54.1 percent of the vote.
It was hoped that these presidential elections might be a step toward reuniting people in Côte d'Ivoire, the world’s largest cocoa exporter, after being divided by civil war in 2002.
However, it is still unclear how the international community will act if Gbagbo does not step down voluntarily.
“We are obviously concerned that if the current government makes the wrong choices, there could very well be the risk of violence,” Crowley said at a press briefing Dec 7.
He added that there were two possible paths Cote d'Ivoire could take to resolve political standoff.
“One that leads to continued progress for his country and his people. … The other path is one that leads to isolation from the global community, and most particularly from the African neighbors of Cote d'Ivoire.”
Côte d'Ivoire is divided sharply between the country’s Muslim north, where Ouattara’s Rally of the Republicans party draws the majority of its support, and a largely Christian south that supports Gbagbo.
This year’s election was the first since 2000. Gbagbo lost that election but then took office following a revolt in his favor. In 2002, there was a failed coup attempt against Gbagbo.
The United Nations Security Council passed a resolution endorsing Ouattara’s victory and warned Gbagbo not to try to hold on to power.
“The members of the Security Council condemn in the strongest possible terms any effort to subvert the popular will of the people or undermine either the integrity of the electoral process or the free and fair elections in Côte d'Ivoire,” stated a Security Council press statement.
The White House also endorsed Ouattara and made it clear that Gbagbo should respect the results. “The Ivorian people have chosen Mr. Alassane Ouattara with an irrefutable margin as the winner over current president Gbagbo,” said State Department spokesman Philip Crowley at a briefing on Wednesday.
Choi Young-jin, the UN secretary-general’s special representative in Côte d’Ivoire, told the UN Security Council by video conference from Nigeria’s Abuja that he had analyzed and evaluated 20,000 ballots and that the elections results clearly indicated Alassane Ouattara’s victory, according to the UN release.
“Ignoring the will of the Ivorian people at this stage would be a letdown of the people of Côte d’Ivoire and a waste of significant resources invested over the past eight years by the international community,” he added.
Choi’s analysis is in keeping with the results announced by the Côte d'Ivoire’s Independent Electoral Commission, an internationally composed body, which has stated that Ouattara had won the election with 54.1 percent of the vote.
It was hoped that these presidential elections might be a step toward reuniting people in Côte d'Ivoire, the world’s largest cocoa exporter, after being divided by civil war in 2002.
However, it is still unclear how the international community will act if Gbagbo does not step down voluntarily.
“We are obviously concerned that if the current government makes the wrong choices, there could very well be the risk of violence,” Crowley said at a press briefing Dec 7.
He added that there were two possible paths Cote d'Ivoire could take to resolve political standoff.
“One that leads to continued progress for his country and his people. … The other path is one that leads to isolation from the global community, and most particularly from the African neighbors of Cote d'Ivoire.”
Côte d'Ivoire is divided sharply between the country’s Muslim north, where Ouattara’s Rally of the Republicans party draws the majority of its support, and a largely Christian south that supports Gbagbo.
This year’s election was the first since 2000. Gbagbo lost that election but then took office following a revolt in his favor. In 2002, there was a failed coup attempt against Gbagbo.
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