Ivory Coast closes its borders as tensions rise after disputed poll

Opposition's apparent election victory dismissed by presidential aides
as 'attempted coup d'etat'

David Smith and agencies
Friday December 3 2010
The Guardian


http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/03/ivory-coast-closes-borders-disputed-poll


Ivory Coast closed its borders and blocked foreign media last night
after an apparent election victory for the opposition was dismissed by
presidential aides as "an attempted coup d'etat".

The UN security council and the US urged all parties to respect the
democratic process after at least four people were killed in political
violence.

The threat of instability grew after opposition leader Alassane
Ouattara was declared the provisional winner of the west African
country's first election for a decade.

Election commission chief Youssouf Bakayoko said Ouattara had won with
54.1% of the vote, compared with 45.9% for the incumbent, Laurent
Gbagbo, after days of backroom wrangling.

Bakayoko left his headquarters unannounced and slipped into the Gulf
hotel, which is under UN guard, to make the announcement. The hotel
replayed his declaration on outside speakers, on its lawn as crowds
gathered and opposition supporters began celebrating.

However, the result must be validated by the country's constitutional
council, which is led by ruling party loyalist Paul Yao N'Dre. He
appeared on state-controlled television and said the commission had
missed a constitutionally mandated midnight deadline on Wednesday.
"After the failure of the [election commission] to find a consensus,
only the constitutional council is qualified to give the results of
this election," he said. "There are some foreign TV channels amusing
themselves giving results. Ivorians should consider these results null
and void."

Soon after, it was announced that all foreign radio and TV broadcasts
were being banned indefinitely and that the country's air, land and
maritime borders had been closed by the military.

One of Gbagbo's senior advisers, Richard Assamoa, called the release
of results "an attempted coup d'etat".

There are widespread fears the electoral dispute will erupt into
violence between Gbagbo's and Ouattara's youth supporters or between
Ouattara's supporters and security forces.

Authorities said police responding to a call at one of Ouattara's
offices had killed four people after being fired upon. An opposition
leader said another 12 were shot dead by security forces in central
Abidjan.

Supporters of Gbagbo had earlier prevented the election commission
from announcing the outcome from Sunday's runoff, saying tallies from
at least four of the country's 19 regions should be cancelled because
of irregularities. When a spokesman for the commission attempted to
announce partial results, officials loyal to Gbagbo stepped in front
of the cameras and ripped the results out of his hand, blocking him
from reading them.

If Ouattara remains the victor of the race, he will become the first
Muslim president in this largely Christian nation.

The UN security council warned Ivory Coast that it was prepared to
take "appropriate measures", a diplomatic codeword for sanctions,
against anyone thwarting the electoral process.


guardian.co.uk Copyright (c) Guardian News and Media Limited. 2010

--