Côte d'Ivoire: Obama Joins African Leaders in Pressing Gbagbo to Step Aside

By artappraiser on Thu, 12/09/2010 - 11:51am |

By Cindy Shiner, AllAfrica.com, December 8, 2010

President Laurent Gbagbo of Cote d'Ivoire rebuffed an offer by the United States to save face and become a respected elder statesman of Africa, choosing instead a "path to isolation" by clinging to power, according to senior U.S. officials who spoke by telephone to AllAfrica.

President Barack Obama wrote to Gbagbo on Friday night after attempts to reach him by phone were unsuccessful, prior to Gbagbo's ceremony to swear himself in as president. In the letter, Obama, who was on a plane returning from Afghanistan, reiterated that the United States considered Alassane Ouattara the legitimate winner of Cote d'Ivoire's presidential elections..."President Obama laid out a clear choice:....

URL:

http://allafrica.com/stories/201012080168.html