Nairobi: Outgoing Ivory Coast president
Laurent Gbagbo will be granted an "amnesty" if he steps aside
peacefully, the African Union mediator in the crisis, Kenyan
Prime Minister Raila Odinga, said on Wednesday.
"There will be an amnesty for him in that he will not
be prosecuted or persecuted," Odinga told journalists on his
return from a two-day trip to the Ivory Coast capital Abidjan.
"And in the event that he decides to remain in the
country, he will be allowed to go about his business
normally," the Kenyan Prime Minister said.
Odinga had joined presidents Ernest Bai Koroma of
Sierra Leone, Pedro Pires of Cape Verde and Boni Yayi of
Benin, who were sent by the West African economic grouping
ECOWAS in a bid to convince Gbagbo to step down and relinquish
power to Alassane Ouattara.
Ouattara has been recognised by the international
community as the legitimate winner of the November 28
presidential polls, but Gbagbo has refused to step aside.
PTI
