Abidjan: Former South African leader Thabo Mbeki has failed to settle an election row between Ivory Coast`s presidential claimant Alassane Ouattara and incumbent Laurent Gbagbo, but appealed to both for a peaceful solution.
Mbeki had hoped to defuse a power struggle enveloping the country since an election which the electoral commission and international observers say Ouattara won -- a decision reversed by the Constitutional Council, backed by the armed forces chief.
Gbagbo refused to concede defeat after the election commission said the November 28 poll, meant to reunite the region`s former economic powerhouse after a 2002-03 civil war, had been won by Ouattara with 54.1 percent of the vote.
Analysts warned the dispute could now pit the army against pro-Ouattara rebels, who told Reuters they would defend themselves against any attack, or even divide the army itself.
"The African Union is very keen that peace can be sustained and every effort should be made to ensure this transition to democracy succeeds," Mbeki told journalists at Gbagbo`s house before leaving, adding he would file a report to the union.
"Cote D`Ivoire (Ivory Coast) needs peace and needs democracy ... We indeed hope that the leadership of this country will do all that it can to ensure peace is maintained."
The United Nations is temporarily moving 460 non-essential staff from its mission in Ivory Coast out of the country because of security concerns, a spokesman in New York said.
Ouattara`s team at the Golf Hotel, where he is holed up under U.N. protection, held its first `council of ministers`.
"Everything except the departure of the old president is on the table for negotiation," said Patrick Achi, Ouattara`s spokesman, adding that he thought the crisis could be resolved internally, rather than through international sanctions.
Small groups of Ouattara supporters burned tires and blocked roads in Abidjan on Monday as police in riot gear patrolled the streets. There were no reports of violence. At least 10 people were killed in clashes in the previous two weeks.
The military extended a curfew for an extra week, until Sunday, but relaxed the hours to 10 p.m. to 5 a.m.
The political deadlock gripped the world`s top cocoa grower after the Constitutional Council -- run by a Gbagbo ally -- scrapped hundreds of thousands of votes from Ouattara strongholds, reversing provisional results giving him victory.
President Barack Obama has backed Ouattara, leading calls from the United Nations, France, the European Union, the African Union and West African bloc ECOWAS on Gbagbo to accept the election commission ruling. ECOWAS leaders are due to hold an emergency summit on Ivory Coast on Tuesday.
PTI
