USA Africa Dialogue Series - Obama Is Finally Seeing The Proverbial Light

Only the use of legitimate force will get Gbagbo to stand down.  Since all six of the seven African Peace Paradigms have failed, it is time to use the seventh: i.e. Peace through Power and Coercion. I came back from Burkina Faso on Tuesday afternoon and did an Al Jazeera International TV interview during which I shared the stories of some of the refugees pouring into that country. Afrikans must do everything to stop this mad man from making what happened in Rwanda look like a picnic.

 US blacklists Ivory Coast president, inner circle

By BRADLEY KLAPPER

The Associated Press
Thursday, January 6, 2011; 4:13 PM

WASHINGTON -- Frustrated by the refusal of Ivory Coast's president to cede power, the Obama administration slapped wide-ranging sanctions Thursday on the African leader and members of his inner circle as punishment for refusing to accept his loss in a democratic election in November.

The sanctions bar American citizens from doing business with incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo, his wife Simone Gbagbo and allies Desire Tagro, Pascal Affi N'Guessan and Alcide Ilahiri Djedje. Any assets they have in the United States are now frozen.

In a statement, the Treasury Department said the five were blacklisted for "actions threatening the peace and national reconciliation process" in the West African country.

"Laurent Gbagbo continues to demonstrate wanton disregard for the will and well-being of the people of Cote d'Ivoire," said Adam Szubin, who heads Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control. "Today's designations will isolate him and his inner circle from the world's financial system and underscore the desire of the international community that he step down."

The 65-year-old Gbagbo has refused to move aside since Alassane Ouattara was recognized as the winner of the Nov. 28 presidential run-off election. Human rights groups accuse Gbagbo's security forces of abducting and killing hundreds of political opponents.

The U.S. already applied travel sanctions on Gbagbo and 30 of his allies last month. Obama has twice tried to call Gbagbo without success, and administration officials believe the Ivorian leader intentionally avoided contact.

Tagro has been Gbagbo's chief of staff since the November election while N'Guessan is chairman of the political party Gbagbo founded nearly three decades ago and has acted as the president's spokesman. Djedje is Gbagbo's selection for foreign minister. All have helped Gbagbo resist a democratic transfer of power, according to the Treasury Department.

Gbagbo came to power a decade ago and ruled through a civil war two years later. He then overstayed his legal term that expired in 2005. The presidential election was rescheduled at least six times.

Sanctions typically have failed to reverse illegal power grabs in Africa in the past. Ouattara, who has been confined to a hotel protected by U.N. peacekeepers, has asked other West African nations to send special forces to remove Gbagbo.