Ivory Coast PM: Gbagbo has until 7pm (an hour ago) to resign

After months of moving in slow motion, the crisis in the Ivory Coast is today moving at a breakneck pace. In the last several hours, forces loyal to that country’s election winner, Alassane Ouattara, have advanced into Abidjan from the interior of the country. With active fighting ongoing, massive military and police defections to the ...

By , International Crisis Group’s senior analyst for Colombia.
JEAN-PHILIPPE KSIAZEK/AFP/Getty Images
JEAN-PHILIPPE KSIAZEK/AFP/Getty Images
JEAN-PHILIPPE KSIAZEK/AFP/Getty Images

After months of moving in slow motion, the crisis in the Ivory Coast is today moving at a breakneck pace. In the last several hours, forces loyal to that country's election winner, Alassane Ouattara, have advanced into Abidjan from the interior of the country. With active fighting ongoing, massive military and police defections to the Ouattara forces, and French troops deployed in the streets to "prevent looting," Ouattara's administration has given outgoing President Laurent Gbagbo until 7 p.m. Ivory Coast time (about 50 minutes before this post went up) to step down. France, the United States, and the United Nations are all calling on Gbagbo to do the same, lest a bloodbath ensue.

After months of moving in slow motion, the crisis in the Ivory Coast is today moving at a breakneck pace. In the last several hours, forces loyal to that country’s election winner, Alassane Ouattara, have advanced into Abidjan from the interior of the country. With active fighting ongoing, massive military and police defections to the Ouattara forces, and French troops deployed in the streets to "prevent looting," Ouattara’s administration has given outgoing President Laurent Gbagbo until 7 p.m. Ivory Coast time (about 50 minutes before this post went up) to step down. France, the United States, and the United Nations are all calling on Gbagbo to do the same, lest a bloodbath ensue.

There’s a real chance of that, despite how weakened Gbagbo’s forces clearly are. Amnesty International is warning of a "humanitarian catastophe." The United Nations’ peacekeeping force on the ground was worried enough about a security vacuum that it took control of the airport and airspace just moments ago. And in addition to the immediate term fighting, what I’m worried about in the longterm is outside of Abidjan, where there are now numerous reports that ex-combattants from neighboring Liberia are fighting on no one’s side, raping and pillaging without regard to the political situation that all diplomatic efforts have gone toward fixing. 

All this is happening so quickly that even Twitter is looking dated; tweets are outpaced by events even as they’re instantaneously posted. But to keep up with events on the ground, I would recommend the following resources: 

Slateafrique‘s liveblog

Abidjan.net, a local news source that also pulls from the wires

– Reuters’ page on the Ivory Coast

Or follow me on twitter @DickinsonBeth and I’ll try to do my best to keep up with the news as it’s unfolding.

Elizabeth Dickinson is International Crisis Group’s senior analyst for Colombia.

More from Foreign Policy

An illustration shows the Statue of Liberty holding a torch with other hands alongside hers as she lifts the flame, also resembling laurel, into place on the edge of the United Nations laurel logo.
An illustration shows the Statue of Liberty holding a torch with other hands alongside hers as she lifts the flame, also resembling laurel, into place on the edge of the United Nations laurel logo.

A New Multilateralism

How the United States can rejuvenate the global institutions it created.

A view from the cockpit shows backlit control panels and two pilots inside a KC-130J aerial refueler en route from Williamtown to Darwin as the sun sets on the horizon.
A view from the cockpit shows backlit control panels and two pilots inside a KC-130J aerial refueler en route from Williamtown to Darwin as the sun sets on the horizon.

America Prepares for a Pacific War With China It Doesn’t Want

Embedded with U.S. forces in the Pacific, I saw the dilemmas of deterrence firsthand.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, seen in a suit and tie and in profile, walks outside the venue at the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation. Behind him is a sculptural tree in a larger planter that appears to be leaning away from him.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, seen in a suit and tie and in profile, walks outside the venue at the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation. Behind him is a sculptural tree in a larger planter that appears to be leaning away from him.

The Endless Frustration of Chinese Diplomacy

Beijing’s representatives are always scared they could be the next to vanish.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan welcomes Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman during an official ceremony at the Presidential Complex in Ankara, on June 22, 2022.
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan welcomes Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman during an official ceremony at the Presidential Complex in Ankara, on June 22, 2022.

The End of America’s Middle East

The region’s four major countries have all forfeited Washington’s trust.