An apparent calm reigned in Abidjan this weekend

An apparent calm reigned in Abidjan, this weekend. A misleading calm, after the violence of Thursday, which, according to figures published yesterday by the United Nations, ended by more than 50 dead, more than 200 wounded and "massive violations of human rights".

Yesterday, Gbagbo and Ouattara camps were preparing to new clashes. Two camps for two Presidents who opposed since the second round of the presidential election on November 28. On the one hand, Alassane Ouattara, winner by the independent electoral commission of the country and supported proclaimed by the international community. On the other, Laurent Gbagbo: declared winner by a Constitutional Council that is subservient to him, he has the support of the army.

Between the two, the tension mounts. The new Minister of youth of Laurent Gbagbo, Charles Blé Goudé, calls the Ivorians to "fight" against the United Nations and the camp Ouattara. "We will defend the dignity and sovereignty of our country until the last drop of our sweat," per tonne the former iron lance of the violent antifrançaises protests in 2003 and 2004. Denouncing a "recolonization" of Côte d'Ivoire with an Ouattara would be a "puppet" in the hands of foreign powers, Charles Blé Goudé accuses the France and the United Nations to prepare "a genocide". "Gbagbo will not go away and will never go away," he insists. In the face, camp Ouattara called the Ivorian people to remain "mobilized up to the departure of Laurent Gbagbo".

The tension mounts as between the outgoing President and the foreign forces for the maintenance of peace. The United Nations refuses to leave the country, as required by Laurent Gbagbo j. "interference" of the 10,000 peacekeepers of UNOCI and of the 900 men of the French force Licorne "intolerable." Rival Alassane Ouattara, he "asked" the United Nations to remain. UNOCI "will fulfill its mandate and will continue to monitor all violations of the human rights, the incitement to hate or attacks against peacekeepers," said the Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, while today open discussions on the extension of the mandate of the United Nations in Côte d'Ivoire, which expires on 31 December. The maintenance of Gbagbo in power would lead to a "parody of democracy", said Friday Ban Ki-moon. UNOCI headquarters came under fire in the night of Friday to Saturday. "We let us redouble our vigilance and we are prepared for everything", yesterday said the spokesman for UNOCI, Hamadoun Touré. While stressing that the peacekeepers would not seek the "confrontation". The French soldiers, they have no intention of "intervene between Ivorians", but they replicate attack, said yesterday evening Michèle Alliot-Marie, French Minister of Foreign Affairs, in the program "International" of TV5 Monde, RFI and "the world". It calls on Laurent Gbagbo to "remember" its troops. The United States, for their part, have ordered yesterday to employees of the Embassy to leave Ivory Coast. After the failure of political negotiations, international and African forums now rely on the financial asphyxia of the outgoing President. "Need to maintain the pressure, or even increase it, inter alia by the fact that the only valid bank signing for the Ivorian State, it is now that of Mr. Ouattara," explained Wednesday Michèle Alliot-Marie.

The French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, had called Friday Laurent Gbagbo out of power "before the end of the week", in the footsteps in the United States, which would grant that "time limited" to go. Fault what United States and European Union vote sanctions against Laurent Gbagbo in person. "He faces measures that gradually strangle him: Mr. Ouattara began to appoint ambassadors, there is the individual sanctions by the European Union, the closure of the accounts of the State with the only recognized signature, that of Alassane Ouattara", was Friday a senior French official to AFP. With online focus, term, acquired military pay - for nowLaurent Gbagbo.