By Hugo ODIOGOR
With clashes between the army and protesters degenerating into bloodbath, the United States and European Union have issued travel restriction on the West African country which relies on tourism to generate substantial revenue for its economy.

Tourism contributes 16% of its GDP but threats of breakdown of law and order following the sit tight philosophy of Mr. Laurent Gbagbo who lost the presidential run_off election three week ago

The U.N and EU joined the Economic Community of West African States ECOWAS to issue a stern statement asking Mr. Gbagbo to relinquish power to Alhasane Ouattara, who was believed to have won the election before the Constitutional Court tried to keep Gbagbo in power through the back door.

The UN secretary General Mr. Ban Ki Moon at the week end asked Mr. Gbagbo to immediately hand over power to Quatarra, an economist and  one time President if African Development Bank, while President Nicolas Sarkozy of France has taken a more pro active stance to force a resolution of the political crisis in its former colonial.

A statement from the US State Department urged its citizens to avoid travelling to Cote d’Ivoire.

At the same time it asked all non_emergency personnel and eligible family members of U.S. Embassy personnel in Cote D’Voire to leave the country.  This replaces the Travel Warning of December 4, which had warned U.S. citizens on the security and political situation in Cote d’Ivoire.

Both Gbagbo and Quatarra have sworn themselves in as president on December 4,following the disputed result of the November 28, second round of the Presidential election.  Following contested results, both the incumbent and the opposition candidate were sworn in on December 4, 2010.  Since then, there have been sporadic demonstrations, violence and deaths.

The presidential standoff is in its second week and tensions are heightened as pressure from the United States and the international community increases. There are fears that Dr. Quatarra’s decision to resort to peoples power may be the last resort by it will trigger off more anarchy in the country