Deepened divisons

EU launches Ivorian sanctions as tensions grow

The European Union imposed sanctions targeting Ivory Coast incumbent Laurent Gbagbo and his allies, raising international pressure on him to quit after a disputed election.

Gbagbo is in a power struggle with rival Alassane Ouattara, with both claiming victory in a November 28 poll meant to reunite the world's top cocoa grower after a 2002-3 civil war but which has instead deepened divisions and triggered street violence.

Ouattara was named winner by the electoral commission and has been endorsed by the UN Security Council and almost all world leaders. But Ivory Coast's pro-Gbagbo Constitutional Council said the vote was rigged and declared Gbagbo the winner.

In a sign of growing tensions, around 20 government troops armed with machine guns and grenade launchers deployed close to the UN-guarded hotel in Abidjan being used as a base by Ouattara and his supporters, a Reuters reporter saw.

There was no immediate comment on the deployment from the military, which backs Gbagbo. A Ouattara spokesman said the stand-off followed a failed attempt earlier in the day by government troops to erect a checkpoint near the hotel.

In Brussels, EU foreign ministers agreed to impose visa bans and assets freezes on Gbagbo and his backers as part of a set of sanctions designed to deepen his diplomatic isolation.

"We are of course worried about the situation in Ivory Coast," Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb said.

The 27-member bloc agreed to draft a list of officials deemed to be "obstructing the process of peace and national reconciliation ... and who are jeopardizing the proper outcome of the electoral process," ministers said in a statement.

The proposed sanctions echo measures that have been mooted by the United States. A U.S. State Department official warned Gbagbo last week that "the era of stealing elections is over."

Gbagbo, who has held on to power five years after the end of his term in office as elections have been repeatedly delayed, has dismissed the pressure as foreign meddling and retains control of state TV, government buildings and security forces.