Calls for a general strike to force Ivory Coast's defiant leader Laurent Gbagbo out of power fell on deaf ears Monday as people went about their business as normal. The political parties backing Alassane Ouattara, the man the world recognises as the rightful president of Ivory Coast, on Sunday called for people to stay off work until Gbagbo relinquished power. But in the economic capital Abidjan, few people appeared to have listened. "Things are working as normal here, it's as if nobody listened to the call," a German Press Agency dpa reporter in Abidjan said. Ivory Coast was plunged into violence the United Nations said has killed at least 173 people after a Gbagbo ally on the constitutional council overturned Ouattara's election victory last month. Gbagbo has brushed off huge international pressure, including travel bans from the European Union and the United States, using the military to cling to power. He is due to face his latest challenge Tuesday, when the leaders of Benin, Sierra Leone and Cape Verde are expected to personally deliver a message from regional bloc the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) that he must step aside. ECOWAS on Friday warned that if the leader does not quit, it would "take other measures, including the use of legitimate force, to achieve the goals of the Ivorian people." Gbagbo, in an interview with French daily Le Figaro published Monday, said he took the threat seriously but was not concerned. "It would be the first time in Africa that African states declare war against another country only because an election went awry," he said. "We are not afraid ... How far are those attacking us prepared to go?" The African Union said in a statement it backed the ECOWAS mission and also announced it had appointed Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga to "follow through the situation ... and to strengthen the chances of success of the current efforts."
