Cote D’Ivoire: Ouattara’s offer to Gbagbo

By Staff writer

ABIDJAN---Cote d'Ivoire ambassador to the United Nations said that Ouattara will form a coalition Government with members of incumbent Laurent Gbagbo's party, as long as Gbagbo steps down first.

The proposal to form a unity government by Ivory Coast presidential claimant Alassane Ouattara  comes amid mounting pressure on Gbagbo, who has ruled the world's top cocoa producer since 2000, to leave power and end a standoff that has killed more than 200 people and threatens to rekindle a civil war.

Gbagbo "has followers, he has competent people in his party. Those people, we are prepared to work with them in the framework of a wide composite cabinet," said Ivory Coast's U.N. envoy Youssoufou Bamba in an interview with the BBC's HARD talk television news programme.

But he said the formation of a unity government was only possible if Gbagbo stepped down first.

"What I am saying is Mr. Ouattara should be recognised by Mr. Gbagbo that he is the legitimate president," he said in the interview, a transcript of which was released by the BBC on Monday.

Leaders across the global have piled  pressure on Gbagbo to cede the presidency to Ouattara after the provisional results of a November 28 election showed Ouattara won with an 8 percentage point margin.