Nigeria okays global pressure to oust Gbagbo

[TGD]

THE Federal Government is satisfied with the international pressure and isolation aimed at removing incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo of Cote d'Ivoire from power.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) quoted Nigeria's Ambassador to the United Nations (UN) Joy Ogwu, as disclosing this to reporters on Wednesday in New York after the UN Security Council voted unanimously to impose sanctions on Gbagbo, his wife and three associates.

The UN Security Council passed a resolution on Wednesday evening in New York on the Ivoirien political crisis, but fell short of meeting ECOWAS and Nigeria's request for a decisive UN authorization to remove defeated President Laurent Gbagbo and install the new president of the country, Alassane Ouattara.

The resolution sponsored by Nigeria and France, however, won a unanimous support of the 15-member Security Council which voted late on Wednesday at the UN headquarters in New York and imposed targeted sanctions on Gbagbo and four of his closest associates including a member of his family.

Also, the resolution authorised the United Nations Operation in Cote d'Ivoire (UNOCI), "while impartially implementing its mandate, to use all necessary means to carry out its mandate to protect civilians under imminent threat of physical violence, within its capabilities and its areas of deployment, including to prevent the use of heavy weapons against the civilian population and requests."

Gbagbo's refusal to cede power to the internationally recognised winner of last November's election, Alassane Ouattara, had plunged the country into protracted crisis.

"We are satisfied that all member-states in one voice and one accord called for specific and targeted sanctions against Gbagbo.

"For us we believe that the die is cast and this will present sufficient pressure on Gbagbo to step down,'' she said.

Ogwu said the Council's resolution also gave UN peacekeepers in the country more authority to protect civilians, as requested by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) heads of government.

"ECOWAS did not ask for the use of force, they just asked for targeted sanctions and a reinforcement of the mandate of UNOCI to deal with the  protection of civilian population which also includes citizens from ECOWAS member-states and other neighbouring countries.

"What ECOWAS was asking for is a united international voice, a collective  international voice that we have received today.''

The Nigerian ambassador,however, admitted that some of the "elements'' which ECOWAS wanted into the resolution were "dissected'' by council members.

"Especially the use of heavy weapons was tampered to read like this:  UNOCI will prevent rather than seize heavy weapons.''

"That implies that UNOCI should not go beyond its mandate to protect civilians and defend itself," she said.    

Ogwu said the resolution also warned Gbagbo of the possibility of the International Criminal Court (ICC) punishing those who violate international humanitarian law.

Resolution 1975 was adopted five days after its introduction by Nigeria and France. The resolution was at the behest of ECOWAS member-states to the Security Council to provide a tougher mandate for the UN force in Cote d'Ivoire to help oust Gbagbo from power.

Meanwhile, rebels fighting to install Ouattara have begun besieging the main city of Abidjan after seizing a key seaport overnight. The top military commander of the country's entrenched ruler fled to the residence of South Africa's ambassador.

Inmates of Cote d'Ivoire's biggest prison, Maca in Abidjan, were freed yesterday, one said, as Ouattara's forces came near the city.

"I left Maca at 7:50 a.m. All the prisoners in Maca left as well," one of those freed, Charly Gnahore, a journalist with a pro-Ouattara television station, told Agence France Presse (AFP).

"We were in our cells when we heard shooting around 6:30 a.m. The shooting continued until 7:10 a.m.  Afterwards we heard shouts of joy, we went down and saw the prison doors were open. We didn't ask any questions we just left."

United Nations radio announced that the port of San Pedro, 190 miles (300 kilometres) west of Abidjan, was taken by rebels late Wednesday. Residents said by telephone that soldiers retreated in trucks while firing into the air as the rebels moved in.

In Abidjan, rebels already in control of several northern districts of the city attacked a prison and freed the inmates, a rebel commander said.

The rebels also advanced into Yopougon, a district of Abidjan that fervently supports Gbagbo, witnesses said.

The rebel army is on the periphery of Abidjan, said a close aide to Ouattara, who was recognised by governments around the world as the country's legitimate president after winning last November's presidential election.

"They will enter the city on multiple fronts, from multiple directions," said the adviser, who asked not to be named because he is not authorized to speak to the press. Rebels overnight took Gbagbo's hometown, the village of Mama, where the former president had built a lavish villa, the aid said.

"The rebels slept in Gbagbo's bed," he said.

Cote d'Ivoire's army chief of staff, Gen. Phillippe Mangou, sought refuge at the home of the South African ambassador in Abidjan with his wife and five children, South Africa's foreign ministry said yesterday.

Advancing on foot while firing into the air, the rebels set up roadblocks on one of Yopougon's main thoroughfares and have been battling with police since early yesterday morning, said a local resident who asked not to be named for fear of reprisals.

Across town in the predominantly pro-Ouattara Adjame district, several residents reported that pro-Gbagbo militiamen were firing weapons, though it was unclear at what.

The rebels have seized over a dozen towns since beginning their offensive on Monday, and the fall of the cocoa-exporting port of San Pedro came hours after they took the capital, Yamoussoukro. There, they did a victory lap in vehicles as people cheered and clapped.

They have faced almost no resistance but many fear that army troops still loyal to Gbagbo plan to make a final stand in Abidjan, the country's economic hub and where the presidential palace is located.

Outtara's whereabouts were not immediately known. He had been holed up for months in the lagoonside Golf Hotel in Abidjan, protected by United Nations peacekeeping troops. Ouattara, who is from the country's north, had long tried to distance himself from the rebels based there who fought in a brief civil war almost a decade ago that left the country split in two.

Source: Nigeria okays global pressure to oust Gbagbo