US begins evacuation of embassy staff

ABIDJAN—THE European Union is set to impose a travel ban on Ivory Coast’s incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo over disputed elections, a diplomat told the British Broadcasting Corporation, BBC, yesterday.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy had given Mr Gbagbo a deadline of Sunday to step down.
And as Ivory Coast boils, United States has begun evacuation of dependents and non_emergency personnel from its embassy in Abidjan, the country’s capital.

United States’ State Department spokesperson, Philip Crowley, told newsmen weekend, that Under Secretary for Management, Pat Kennedy, approved the authorised departure of its citizens.

Both Gbagbo and Alassane Ouattara say they won last month’s election and have each named cabinet ministers amid a stand_off in the main city Abidjan.

The UN, the West and African leaders all say Mr Ouattara was the victor, and there are fears that the dispute could reignite civil war in the country.

About 50 people have been killed in recent days, according to UN human rights chief Navi Pillay. She said she had received reports of hundreds of people being snatched from their homes by people in military uniforms. Some were later found dead.

The diplomat said that an agreement had been taken in principle to ban Mr Gbagbo, and 18 of his allies, from the EU, noting that the travel ban had to be officially adopted by EU leaders within the next 24_48 hours but said this was a formality as all member states backed it.

A separate decision may be taken to freeze any of Mr Gbagbo’s assets in the EU. A US official last week said he and his family had “multiple homes in multiple countries”.

Over the weekend, Gbagbo demanded that the 10,000_strong UN peacekeeping mission be withdrawn from the country, accusing the UN of bias in favour of Mr Ouattara.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki_moon immediately rejected the demand. One of Gbagbo’s closest allies, youth leader Charles Ble Goude, on Sunday told a rally in Abidjan: “This battle that we began in 2002 _ we are ready to die for it.”

Goude, who is on a UN sanctions list after his Young Patriots group were accused of killing, raping and assaulting opposition supporters, has been named Mr Gbagbo’s youth minister. Some of his supporters accuse former colonial power France of meddling in Ivory Coast’s politics. It has a military base there and retains strong economic ties to the country.

UN troops are protecting the luxury Abidjan hotel where Ouattara has been based since the disputed election. Ouattara, a former IMF economist from the north of the country, was initially declared the winner by the electoral commission.

On Thursday, the U.S. government said a rocket strike hit the outer perimeter of its embassy in Cote d’Ivoire, with only slight damage and no injuries. The outbreak of violence same day around the capital killed more than a dozen people.
Crowley said the U.S. was “mindful of the situation in Cote d’Ivoire” and warned that “time is running out” for Gbagbo to step down and allow his elected successor to assume office without further hindrance.

“The United States is prepared to impose targetted sanctions individually and in concert with our partners on Gbagbo, his immediate family, and his inner circle, should he continue to illegitimately cling to power,” he told newsmen.