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Tuesday 21 December 2010

Ivory Coast crisis: Gbagbo ally warns of UN rebellion

UN peacekeepers in Abidjan (20 December 2010) The UN has accused pro-Gbagbo forces of harassing its troops

An ally of Ivory Coast's incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo has warned UN peacekeepers they could be treated as rebels if they remain in the country after being told to leave.

Mr Gbagbo accuses the UN of siding with his rival Alassane Ouattara and ordered them out of the country.

The UN says Mr Ouattara won last month's poll and has urged all parties to recognise him as president.

It has extended the mandate of its 10,000-strong force by six months.

Mr Gbagbo says the polls were rigged in rebel-held areas of the north and was declared the winner by the Constitutional Council. But the UN mission in Ivory Coast, which was involved in organising the election, backed the electoral commission in saying Mr Ouattara had won.

Mr Gbagbo's Interior Minister, Emile Guirieoulou, said of the UN mission:

"If, against our will, they want to keep this force in our country, we won't co-operate with them.

"And if they chose to have authorities other than the legal authorities of the country, they become part of the rebellion."

Rival cabinets

As the stand-off continues, some fear that Ivory Coast could return to civil war.

The election, delayed for five years, was supposed to reunify the world's largest cocoa producer, which has been divided since 2002.

Both Western and African countries have also backed Mr Ouattara.

Nigeria's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Aliyu Idi Hong told the BBC that it would be willing to let Mr Gbagbo go into exile in Nigeria.

Both Mr Gbagbo and Mr Ouattara have named cabinets.

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