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Côte d'Ivoire - UN - France

EU slaps visa bans on Gbagbo, wife and allies

The European Union has banned Côte d’Ivoire’s Laurent Gbagbo and his wife Simone from receiving visas, as the UN accused Gbagbo’s supporters of harassing its troops and foreign diplomats in their attempts to keep him as the country’s leader.

Reuters/Luc Gnago
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Nineteen Ivorians, including the Gbagbos, are on a list drawn up Monday by the EU, a foreign policy official said.

A decision to freeze the their assets is likely to follow, diplomatic sources say.

On Friday an EU summit called on “all Ivorian leaders, both civilians and military … to place themselves under the authority of the elected president, Mr Alassane Ouattara”, following last month’s run-off poll.

UN and French troops continue to patrol Abidjan, as head of mission Choi Young-jin accused the Gbagbo camp of increasing “hostile acts against the international community”, including diplomats and UN forces, and of blockading the hotel where Ouattara has set up his headquarters.

Gbagbo ordered UN and French troops to leave the country by Monday but the organisation has refused to go. The UN Security Council is to decide whether to extend the mission at a meeting later Monday.

On Sunday UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said there was “growing evidence of massive violations of human rights” since Thursday.

“We reject these accusations. This is a partisan report,” Gbagbo’s Interioir Minister Emile Guiriéoulou told the AFP news agency.

Who's on the list? This is what diplomats have told the AFP news agency:

  • Gbagbo's security advisor Kadet Berlin, the secretary-general of the presidency Desire Tagro and the president of the Constitutional Council Yao N'Dre;
  •  Pascal Affi N'Guessan, secretary general of the Ivorian Popular Front and the director-general of the country's RTI radio and television authority Pierre Israel Amessan Brou;
  • Bodyguard to Simone Gbagbo, Captain Anselme Seka Yapo;
  • The head of the national audiovisual board, the CNCA, Frank Anderson Kouassi, the head of the Cecos security operations centre General Guiai Bi Poin and the head of the Republican Guard General Dogbo Blé.
  • The deputy chief of staff of the Ivorian navy, Admiral Vagba Faussignau, and the head of the presidency security grouping, Lieutenant-Colonel Nathanael Ahouman Brouha.
     

 

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