EU freezes Ivory Coast port and bank assets

[Joanne98]

Source: Reuters

The European Union on Saturday increased the pressure on Ivory Coast leader Laurent Gbagbo to step down, freezing assets of the West African country's cocoa-exporting ports, its state oil firm and three banks.

The latest move in international efforts to persuade Gbagbo to quit after an election he is widely held to have lost, the EU announced a sanctions list that included state refiner SIR, the country's rubber sector body, energy utility SOGEPE and national broadcaster RTI.

Gbagbo's camp brushed off the tighter sanctions and said he still had access to accounts at West Africa's central bank, even though regional leaders recognise his rival Alassane Ouattara as the legitimate leader of the world's top cocoa grower.

"Westerners often make this mistake. The world does not stop at Europe, it does not stop at America," Gbagbo's government spokesman Ahoua Don Mello said. "Africa has evolved. We can dispense with France, we can go elsewhere," he added, referring to Ivory Coast's former colonial ruler.



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