2,000 flee Ivory Coast since November

  1. Posted on Monday 13 December 2010 - 09:20
    rubakana
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    Rubakana Eddy, AfricaNews reporter in Bujumburam, Burundi
    The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) of Ivory Coast said that about 2,000 Ivorians have fled their country since November 29, 2010, following the second round of presidential elections triggered a political crisis between the two candidates claiming victory.
    Ivory Coast: Several opposition party members killed
    Despite enormous pressure from the international community to hand over power to Ouattara who was declared winner of the Nov.28 presidential run-off by the election commission, Gbagbo still clings to his seat, branding his legitimacy from the Constitutional Council, which overturned Ouattara’s victory by annulling hundreds of thousands of votes and handing Gbagbo a new five-year term.

    On Friday the United States said strategic sanctions were being prepared against Gbagbo, his family and collaborators if he continues to spurn calls to cede power.

    The political deadlock in the west African country will quake the already fragile economy, according to the chairman of the country’s Chamber of Commerce Jean-Louis Billon, who has asked companies operating in the private sector to stop paying taxes.

    “We don’t know which of the two presidents or governments will survive in the end, so we are not sure which to deal with at the moment,” he said.

    Ouattara’s Prime Minister and former rebel chief Soro Guillaume told a press conference on Friday that he would be moving to the country’s prime minister office to start work this week.

    The office is being occupied by Gbagbo’s new Prime Minster Aké N’gbo, raising fears of possible armed clashes in the commercial city Abidjan this week.

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