Tensions rise in Ivory Coast as president disputes election loss

Faced with disputed presidential election results, Ivory Coast on Thursday looked set for a power struggle that could plunge the troubled West African country back into civil war.

After delays in announcing the results of Sunday’s presidential runoff vote, the electoral commission late Thursday declared former Prime Minister Alassane Ouattara the victor over President Laurent Gbagbo, who had been in power for a decade.

According to the commission, Ouattara won 54% of the vote and Gbagbo 46%.

Shortly after the announcement, the military sealed off air, land and sea borders without giving any reason, Reuters news agency reported.

But despite international pressure to accept the results, it was unclear whether Gbagbo and his supporters would acknowledge defeat. Gbagbo’s term expired in 2005, but he remained in power pending the election, the preparations for which involved years of delays and conflict.

The United Nations mission and other international observers found the vote to be relatively fair. Any inconsistencies were not enough to change the results, observers said.

Susan Rice, U.S. ambassador to the U.N., hinted Thursday that the Security Council could impose sanctions on anyone in Ivory Coast who obstructed the electoral commission or undermined the election results. The country is the world’s leading cocoa producer.

The election aftermath turned to farce Tuesday when a commission official close to Gbagbo disrupted a news conference, tearing up a copy of the election results. Ouattara’s supporters accused Gbagbo of trying to cling to power.

Gbagbo has alleged that results in Ouattara’s northern base were falsified. The country’s Constitutional Council rejected the results, saying it was the job of the council, which is the highest legal authority on election disputes, to sort out the matter.

Constitutional Council head Paul Yao N’dre, a Gbagbo ally, said the electoral commission was not authorized to announce the election results because it had missed its final deadline, Wednesday.

However, Ouattara said he intended to form a unity government incorporating all the political forces in the country.

A 2007 peace deal between Gbagbo and northern rebel forces led by Guillaume Soro paved the way for a vote, but the election has laid bare the fractures between the north and south, Muslims and Christians, and Ivorians and those seen as foreign because their parents or grandparents came from a neighboring country.

Ouattara, a Muslim whose support base is in the north, was prime minister from 1990 to ‘93, and also served in several senior roles in the International Monetary Fund. He was disqualified from the 2000 presidential election because of accusations that his parents were from Burkina Faso. He says he and his parents were born in Ivory Coast.

Earlier Thursday, one of Ouattara’s party offices was attacked by gunmen in Abidjan, the largest city; at least four people were killed.

The Ivory Coast vote follows violence in the recent presidential vote in nearby Guinea, which saw longtime opposition leader Alpha Conde take power.

Democracy is fragile in many parts of Africa and election results ousting an incumbent president are extremely rare.

Many West African countries have emerged from years of civil war in recent years. Analysts fear that any renewed civil conflict in Ivory Coast would destabilize the region.

robyn.dixon@latimes.com