Only seven heads of state out of the 15-member body took part in the meeting which issued a joint communiqué recognising Ivorian opposition leader Alassane Ouattara as the president-elect from the hotly contested November 28 run-off, and asking incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo to cede power “without delay”.

Gbagbo, whom the country’s Constitutional Council declared the winner of the poll after invalidating the electoral commission’s results which gave Ouattara a clean win, formed a new government on Tuesday, defying regional and international pressures to step down.

International community

The UN Security Council is yet to find a common ground on the Ivorian situation, Russia and China remain hesitant to outright sanctions envisaged by other members, especially France and the United States. But another round of discussion is scheduled for Wednesday.

US President Barack Obama wrote a letter to Gbagbo on Tuesday, urging him to accept defeat and organise a pacific transition of power. That Gbagbo would be given all the honours of a former president and could work as an international crisis mediator in the future. Obama said he was ready to invite Gbagbo to Washington for a special visit. But he warned that the Ivorian leader would face a terrible isolation and be responsible for his “unjustified acts if he continues to hang on to power.”

The German authorities also called on Gbagbo to quit on Tuesday.

Liberian officials warned local fighters and mercenaries to shun every move of accepting offers to go to Ivory Coast to assist factions in an eventual showdown. Monrovia says it has reports that Ivorian top dignitaries are contacting Liberian fighters for their services.

Situation

Ivorians are getting about their daily activities timidly. The streets of commercial capital Abidjan and political capital Yamoussoukro are busy with humans and vehicles, but there have reports of tension in the hinterland between northerners and people from Gbagbo’s Bété tribe.

“We’re heading to a final showdown, it is very clear,” Jean Luc Kouassi, a political analyst from the Université de Cocody told AfricaNews. “Since no side is willing to cede, expect a final clash, and the stronger will get it. But it’s going to be bloody. I’m scared.”