JOIN USIvory Coast on the edge over election row
The election commission said Alassane Ouattara had won the November 28 poll with 54.1 per cent but the top legal body, citing alleged intimidation, scrapped hundreds of thousands of votes on Friday and handed victory to Gbagbo.
Gbagbo’s swearing in was broadcast live on state television, and comes after the head of the West African country’s army declared his continued allegiance to Gbagbo late on Friday. Ouattara has also been backed in his rejection of Gbagbo’s re-election by rebels still running the north after a 2002-03 civil war, and Prime Minister Guillaume Soro, a former rebel himself, who said he would resign.
“I will continue to work with all the countries of the world, but I will never give up our sovereignty,” Gbagbo said to cheers and the sound of vuvuzelas after being sworn in. Residents of the main city Abidjan reported gunfire in several districts overnight and heard heavy weapons fire in Port Bouet, near the airport.
Protests and tyre-burning broke out on Saturday in several towns, including Abidjan and in the northern town of Bouake, but none were on a large scale.
“We want (Ouattara) as president. We don’t want Gbagbo any more. We are tired of him,” said Bouake resident Samba Diakite.
The African Union said it would send former South African President Thabo Mbeki to try to seek a solution to the crisis.
World leaders, including US President Barack Obama, the head of the United Nations and West African regional body ECOWAS said Ouattara was the clear winner of a poll meant to heal wounds after a decade of division.
Gbagbo critics have pointed out that Paul Yao N’dre, president of the Constitutional Council which reversed the poll result, is a staunch Gbagbo ally, and Ouattara’s party has warned denying him victory would risk throwing the country back into north-south conflict.