“The Peace and Security Council did formally acknowledge that Mr. Alassane Ouattara is the president-elect of Cote d'Ivoire,” said Lamamra. “The same council decided to suspend Cote d'Ivoire until such time as Mr. Alassane Ouattara, the democratically elected president, will take over effectively.”

The measure comes after the 15-member ECOWAS struck off Cote D’Ivoire from its membership list on Tuesday, while the UN Security Council on Thursday voted a text calling the embattled incumbent Laurent Gbagbo to accept results of the Nov. 28 presidential run-off which gave his rival Alassane Ouattara a clean eight percent victory (54 – 46).

The country’s Constitutional Council, reputed to be close to Gbagbo, overturned the initial result and handed victory to him for a new five-year term, after spending 10 years in power.

But the UN mission, which participated in the electoral process and mandated to certify the result, says the score given by the Constitutional Council were wrong.

Earlier on Wednesday, the AU Chairman Bingu wa Mutharika called on Gbagbo to respect the position of the AU, which recognized Ouattara as the true winner of the country’s historic presidential election. But Gbagbo seemed to have ignored the plight, proceeding to form a 33-member government.

The United States said it would consider sanctions against Mr. Gbagbo, his family and supporters “if he makes the wrong choice” by refusing step down, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley told the Washington Post.

Ouattara’s Prime Minister, former rebel chief Soro Guillaume on Thursday called on the Ivorian army and civil servants to stop taking orders from Gbagbo’s “illegitimate government.” He said “time for play is over.” It is signal of an impending armed confrontation between both camps, according to local observers.

Meanwhile, the association of private business sector, which comprises 1500 companies, says it will no longer be able to resist another crisis, after eight years of economic instability. In a statement released in Abidjan on Thursday, the body said its members would no longer be able to pay taxes to the government if a solution to the political crisis is not reached soon.