Gbagbo won’t go, says threat of force “unjust”

The UN says 14,000 people have fled the Ivory Coast since the contested presidential election. Most are supporters of the internationally- recognised victor Alassane Ouatarra.

The UNHCR says the majority are from villages in the west of the country.

Ouatarra’s comfortable victory at the polls was erased after the constitutional court run by a close ally of Laurent Gbabgo invalidated hundreds of thousands of votes. Gbagbo says the 15- member West African Economic Community is being “unjust” in threatening him with “legitimate force” if he does not step aside, and three ECOWAS presidents, from Benin, Cape Verte and Sierra Leone fly in on Tuesday to insist he quit.

The tension which has cost 200 lives so far is now being felt in the capital’s market.

“We’d like the crisis to be over, that’s our problem, because if the country is not stable we can’t come here to sell our produce. Who will come out to buy things? There aren’t even any clients,” said a fruit and vegetable seller.

A toy salesman said that even in 2002, when civil war was raging, Christmas business was better;

“The problem is now, people are tired. Two presidents, two governments, all this is too much for people.”

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