The 15-member council based their text on the position of ECOWAS (Economic Community of West Africa States), which declared Ouattara as the true winner in reference to a certification of the vote provided by the UN mission currently operating in the West African country.

“In view of ECOWAS' recognition of Mr. Alassane Dramane Ouattara as President-elect of Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) and representative of the freely expressed voice of the Ivorian people as proclaimed by the Independent Election Commission, the members of the Security Council call on all stakeholders to respect the outcome of the election,” U.S. envoy Brooke Anderson read the Council's statement. The United States holds the council's rotating presidency this month.

South Africa

South Africa on Wednesday joined the growing number of voices calling on Gbagbo to accept defeat and step down. In a statement released by the foreign affairs ministry, Pretoria says it stands behind ECOWAS position, and asked the Ivorian incumbent president to “respect the will of the people as expressed in a popular vote.”

Gbagbo

Receiving traditional rulers in his palace Wednesday night, Gbagbo said on state TV RTI he was not scared of anything or anybody. He urged his guests to remain calm that he was controlling the situation.

Ouattara

Widely recognised president-elect of the Ivory Coast, Alassane Ouattara, who is running a parallel government to Gbagbo’s from a four-star hotel in the commercial capital Abidjan, said on Wednesday that he had written to World Bank, IMF, ADB, BCEAO (regional Francophone West Africa bank) and other international financial institutions that partner with Ivory Coast, asking them not to honour Gbagbo’s signature henceforth and suspend all transactions till further notice.

He also said all Ivorian ambassadors still taking orders from Gbagbo had been sacked.

Population

Many Ivorians still nurse fear and uncertainty despite the visible normal daily activities going on across cities and villages. Nobody knows what would happen the next day.

“I told my pupils to stay at home till our country will have only one president instead of these two we’re seeing now. It is terrible,” a school headmaster in Abidjan told AfricaNews.

“We, me and my family, are planning to move to Ghana temporarily until they (politicians) settle their differences. We don’t want to be taken by surprise,” Jacklyn Kouadio, a 33-year-old mother of three told AfricaNews.