ABIDJAN: Laurent Gbagbo faced growing confrontation with foreign peacekeepers as the UN rejected his demand that they leave Ivory Coast, in the tense aftermath of an election he insists he won and the outside world says he lost. The world's top cocoa grower is locked in a dispute over a Nov. 28 presidential vote that both Gbagbo and rival Alassane Ouattara claim to have won, Ouattara with backing from foreign governments and the UN Security Council. A top aide of Gbagbo said late Saturday he would never step down and accused Western powers of attempting a “recolonization” of the west African state, by installing their “puppet”. Election commission results showed Ouattara won by around eight percent. But Gbagbo claims victory with backing from the Constitutional Council, headed by a key ally, which erased nearly half a million votes in Ouattara strongholds, alleging fraud. The United Nations, former colonial power France, the United States, the European Union, the African Union and West African regional bloc ECOWAS have all urged Gbagbo to admit defeat and accept an offer of exile. “That is unimaginable,” Gbagbo aide Pascal Affi N'Guessan told Reuters in an interview. “Everyone involved in this crisis needs to exclude this hypothesis of Gbagbo leaving from their schemes.” Ouattara has said he is only willing to talk to Gbagbo if he steps aside. Gbagbo's government said on state TV it wanted the UN peacekeeping and French forces out of the country, accusing them of interfering in Ivory Coast's internal affairs, after the UN envoy recogized Ouattara. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon responded with his own statement issued by UN spokesman Farhan Haq, who made clear the force had no intention of pulling out. Diplomats said he had no authority to kick them out as he lost the poll. “We consider this intolerable interference in our affairs,” N'Guessan said. “It obeys their interests to side with Ouattara. We consider this a conspiracy ... even a recolonization.” Meanwhile, the US ordered all non-emergency staff and relatives to leave Ivory Coast amid growing deadly post-election violence. Citing the “deteriorating political and security situation” as well as “growing anti-Western sentiment” in Ivory Coast, where at least 50 people have been killed in the crisis, the State Department also warned US citizens to avoid travel there until further notice.
