Raila: Mediation trip fails, time running out for Gbagbo

ABIDJAN, Wednesday
Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga said the latest African Union mediation effort over Ivory Coast’s disputed election had failed today, and stepped up warnings of more sanctions and possible use of force. Alassane Ouattara has been widely recognised as the winner of the November 28 election but incumbent Laurent Gbagbo has refused to resign, alleging the vote was rigged. He maintains control of the army, much of the cocoa sector and state bodies. "Despite extensive discussions ... with Mr Laurent Gbagbo and President-elect Alassane Ouattara, that went very late into the night, I regret to announce that the breakthrough that was needed, did not materialise," Odinga told reporters at the airport as he was about to leave.
TIME RUNNING OUT
"Time is running out," he added of efforts to peacefully resolve the standoff that many fear could pitch the world’s top cocoa grower back into a civil war.
"Unless they heed the call and agree to create a conducive environment for peaceful dialogue, the friends of Ivory Coast might be forced to take other measures...which would require additional punishing economic and fi nancial sanctions, and possibly the use of force". It was the strongest statement by a visiting mediator to Ivory Coast in its decade-long crisis. Odinga explicitly blamed Gbagbo for the breakdown in negotiations, saying he had refused to lift a military siege on the hotel where Ouattara’s parallel administration remains trapped under UN guard. "Mr Gbagbo gave me an assurance that this blockade would be lifted yesterday, but he broke that promise —for the second time in two weeks," he said, explaining why he cut his trip short.
Offi cials from Gbagbo’s camp were not immediately available for comment. He also said he had urged Ouattara during the talks to name Gbagbo allies in any cabinet he would form as president and to give Gbagbo "ironclad assurances" about his future security. Meanwhile, Switzerland is to freeze assets belonging to Tunisia’s former President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali as well as those of Ivory Coast’s Laurent Gbagbo, the Swiss foreign minister said today.
"The government decided at its meeting today to freeze any funds in Switzerland of the ex-Tunisian President and his entourage with immediate effect," Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey said at a news conference in the capital. The seven-member cabinet also agreed to freeze any assets belonging to Gbagbo. "These measures are aimed at encouraging the two countries to present requests for judicial assistance in a criminal matter," Calmy-Rey said.
"Switzerland wants to avoid our fi - nancial centre being used to hide funds illegally taken from the populations concerned," added Calmy-Rey, a social democrat who currently also holds the rotating Swiss presidency. Tunisia’s state news agency said the country’s new unity government intended to investigate the transfer of foreign currency abroad by members of Ben Ali’s extended family.
GOOD IMAGE
In recent years, Switzerland has worked hard to improve its image as a haven for ill-gotten assets. The cabinet previously took unilateral measures to block funds in Swiss accounts held by deposed leaders including Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines and Nigeria’s Sani Abacha, buying time for foreign prosecutors to build a case for restitution of funds.
The order to freeze all potential assets of Ben Ali and his close associates and to prohibit any sale of real estate was taking immediate effect. "The cabinet wants to avoid any risk that Tunisian state property is embezzled," the Swiss foreign ministry said in a statement.
Regarding Gbagbo, Calmy-Rey said it was important that Switzerland not be used to get around a freeze on assets declared earlier this week by the European Union (EU).
—Reuters