Gbagbo rejects fresh calls to quit

Gbagbo rejects fresh calls to quit

Violence flared again recently leading to fears that unfinished business from disputed polls could lead to civil war [AFP] Laurent Gbagbo, Cote d'Ivoire's incumbent leader, has rejected an African Union proposal to step down in favour of presidential claimant Alassane Ouattara, Gbagbo's foreign minister has said. "We will never accept if the proposal is for President Gbagbo to step down because he is the elected leader of Cote d'Ivoire," Alcide Djedje said on Thursday. "We just want President Gbagbo to be president because he has been elected according to the laws in the country. This is our stance." Later, Pascal Affi N'Guessan, leader of Gbagbo's Ivorian Popular Front, confirmed that the AU proposal to end the deadlock after a disputed November election was based on an endorsement of Ouattara. "We have invited the panel to reconsider its position," he told reporters at AU talks in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Civil war threat "If this initiative doesn't come out with irrefutable and pertinent propositions, we fear that the AU, somehow, will contribute to what the rebels started in 2002," he warned, referring to a 2002-2003 civil war that split the country in two. N'Guessan did not give further details of the AU proposal, due to be announced at the end of the meeting. Meanwhile, Gbagbo has banned UN and French peacekeeping aircraft from flying over, or landing in the country. It was announced shortly after Ouattara flew to Ethiopia to attend the AU crisis talks meeting. Mohammed Adow, Al Jazeera's correspondent in the Ivorian city of Abidjan, said Gbagbo wants to lock Ouattara out of the Ivory Coast when he tries to return tomorrow.