Mbeki in Ivory Coast to mediate Gbagbo, Ouattara Each Claim Presidency

Former South African President Thabo Mbeki, arrived today in Ivory Coast to mediate a growing political crisis sparked by a violent disputed election that has seen two rival leaders laying claim to the presidency.

Laurent Gbagbo, 65, owner, was sworn in as president in a ceremony at the presidential palace hours after the Constitutional Council declared the winner of the November 28 elections. Hours later, Alassane Ouattara said he had taken the oath of office, after a Dec. 2 announcement by the Electoral Commission, who won 54.1 percent of the vote.

"We are in Ivory Coast," said Mukoni Ratshitanga, a spokesman for Mbeki, in a text message today. "We have met with UN special representative and the president and meet with the opposition before."

The election was intended to unite the world's cocoa grower top, which has been divided into a rebel north and government controlled south since the uprising of 2002. The dispute over the results is the escalation of violence that left several people killed during the campaign, Ouattara supporters to the streets in protest.

The UN, U.S. and the European Union have sided Ouattara, while leaders of the armed forces in the former French colony have backed the incumbent Gbagbo.

Emergency Mission

The African Union appointed Mbeki to lead an emergency mission to Ivory Coast "to facilitate the rapid and peaceful electoral process and efforts to find a solution to the crisis." Mbeki, who was sacked as South African president in 2008, led the previous mediation efforts during the uprising and spearheads efforts to end the conflict in Sudan.

"We are confident that the African Union and the international community," said Anne Ouloto spokesman Ouattara, in a telephone interview. "They can not recognize the new president Alassane Ouattara in Ivory Coast and negotiate with Laurent Gbagbo. We hope they are here to do because Laurent Gbagbo."

Since yesterday, Ouattara's supporters have used tables, stones and pieces of wood to barricade streets and set car tires on fire in Abidjan and Yamoussoukro, political capital, and police used tear gas to disperse them.

Clashes between the rival factions have killed 18 people in Abidjan only in the last two days, Amadou Coulibaly, a party spokesman Ouattara, said yesterday afternoon. Sporadic gunshots were heard in the city today.

Six people were killed and four seriously injured in the central city of cocoa production Issia December 3, after the pro-Gbagbo youths attacked shops owned by supporters of Ouattara and looted a warehouse of a cocoa pod according to an official of the opposition did not want to be identified for fear of reprisals.

Bouaké protests

In the central city of Bouaké, Ouattara's supporters held peaceful protests for a third day today.

"People are increasingly concerned about the situation," said Philippe Kande, a resident of the city, in a telephone interview. "Gbagbo is very unpredictable. Gbagbo to respect the will of the people. He is always talking about democracy, but he has shown that democracy does not care at all."

Local officials of the Red Cross declined to comment on the reports of violence. Nouk Ange gendarmerie spokesman did not return calls to his mobile phone seeking comment.

Border sealed

The army has closed all borders of the country until further notice, the military said in a statement read on state television. TV and radio signals of Foreign Affairs have stalled indefinitely, the National Broadcasting Council, said in a separate statement.

"It will be a rough ride in the Ivory Coast," said Kissy Agyeman-Togobo Advisory Songhai LLP partner who provides services to clients interested in Africa, by telephone from London yesterday afternoon. "It's not a threat very, very real conflict. I think it will be difficult for Gbagbo to stand."

growth of the Ivory Coast has an average of 1.1 percent in the eight years since the conflict began in the country remained dependent on cocoa out of the wave of foreign investment in African nations such as China. Ouattara Gbagbo supporters maintain, 68, head of the revolt in 2002, a charge he denies.

Cocoa for March delivery rose $ 67, or 2.3 percent, to 2.935 pounds in New York on 03 December after jumping 4 percent the previous day.