The international community may bolster the UN peacekeeping force in the Ivory Coast to head off any potential challenge by supporters of Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo, the US State Department said on Wednesday.
US State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said Washington was discussing moves to strengthen the peacekeeping effort with France, Ivory Coast’s former colonial ruler, and neighboring African countries.
“We’re just having discussions, who might contribute forces and how they might go in to augment the UN peacekeeping force. Decisions have to be made on that and they haven’t been made yet,” Crowley said at a news briefing. “It could be that that kind of reinforcement would be another way to send a clear message to President Gbagbo.”
Gbagbo has refused to quit following a Nov. 28 election that African countries and Western powers say was won by challenger Alassane Ouattara, sparking a political crisis that has killed 50 people and threatens to reignite the country’s civil war.
Ouattara’s designated prime minister told French television on Wednesday that “it is obvious the only solution to the crisis is the use of force.”
The UN Security Council on Monday voted to extend its UNOCI Ivory Coast peacekeeping mission for another six months, dismissing Gbagbo’s demand that it should leave, and left open the option that it could be expanded.
France maintains a 900--member force in the country to support the 10,000-strong UN contingent.
Crowley said the US believed the UN military mission had served as an important stabilizing force and counterbalance to Gbagbo, who still claims the loyalty of top military leaders.
“We can’t rule out that at some point in time he may challenge the presence of that force through force of his own,” Crowley said. “We would hope that it is not necessary to deploy force, but by the same token, we recognize the value of having peackeepers there.”
A senior US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the proposal to increase the peacekeeping force did not necessarily mean it would have a mandate to remove Gbagbo by force, but could help increase pressure on him to leave peacefully.
“We want to see President Gbagbo step aside,” Crowley said. “We want to see him step aside peacefully and pave the way for a peaceful transition. We obviously have concerns about the threat of violence.”
UN Security Council diplomats told reporters that Russia, whose oil giant Lukoil is exploring for crude in Ivory Coast, had indicated it did not like the idea of boosting UNOCI and might not support it.
Moscow delayed the approval of a Security Council statement endorsing Ouattara, making clear during negotiations on it that Russia was uncomfortable with the idea of the UN taking sides what it sees as an internal dispute.
Crowley said the US was focusing on countries within the West African ECOWAS bloc, which is dominated by regional power Nigeria.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in