Ivory Coast leader calls for forces

The man most of the world recognises as Ivory Coast’s new president has called for special forces from West African nations to remove incumbent Laurent Gbagbo.

Alassane Ouattara said Mr Gbagbo’s location could be quickly identified by a team of elite troops because he “is essentially at his residence or at the presidential palace”.

The regional bloc of West African states, ECOWAS, has threatened military action but in recent days leaders have shied away from making a commitment to an armed invasion, fearing mass casualties and a possible return to civil war.

Mr Ouattara said that elite forces have previously carried out similar operations in Latin America and Africa “to remove the person who is the problem”.

“If ECOWAS do send in special forces with the objective of removing Mr Gbagbo, he will be removed, without much damage,” said Mr Ouattara, who has been running a shadow government under protection of UN peacekeepers.

“I know Mr Gbagbo. If he sees that ECOWAS troops are coming to capture him, believe me he will start running away. I know him well. He does not have the courage to face those type of situations,” Mr Ouattara added.

Mr Ouattara maintains that a military operation will not take much time or resources, and that if ECOWAS carries one out, Mr Gbagbo will cave in immediately.

But one of Mr Gbagbo’s closest supporters warned that any attempt to remove him by force will lead to war.

“We need to avoid that the Third World War begins in Ivory Coast… No army in the world can come in and remove our president. It’s in Abidjan that such a thing can happen,” said Charles Ble Goude, who heads the Young Patriots, a militia-like organisation.

While the United Nations and other world powers recognise Mr Ouattara as the winner of last year’s elections, Mr Gbagbo has refused to step down, insisting he won. Mr Gbagbo has been in power for a decade and maintains control of the military. Human rights groups accuse his security forces of killing political opponents.