Pressure is building on Gbagdo, with talk of a military intervention by neighbouring African states to enforce the result of the recent election in the Ivory Coast.
The presidents of Benin, Sierra Leone and Cape Verde are expected to deliver an ultimatum to Gbagbo that includes the threat of his removal by force.
Gbagbo continues to defy the west African regional bloc Ecowas, the UN, US and EU, by refusing to concede defeat in last month’s presidential election to the opposition leader, Alassane Ouattara.
Tomorrow’s meeting is widely seen as a final warning to Gbagbo. Sierra Leone’s information ministry said: “In the spirit of brotherliness in Africa, three presidents have been nominated by their colleagues to confront Mr Gbagbo in Abidjan to encourage him to leave office without delay.
One hopes that the correct result arises from this situation, hopefully without further loss of life or military action. However it is heartening to see the concern and action from West African states over the results of an election.
On the other hand, it is depressing, if unsurprising, to see a Western Lawyer siding with the despot in this struggle:
Bill Clinton now has something in common with homicidal African dictators like Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo and Laurent Gbagbo: they all are or have been represented by Lanny Davis, the high-profile Democratic lawyer famous for taking on clients everyone else considers too hot to handle. Davis repped Clinton during his impeachment trial; now his latest client is Gbagbo, the iron-fisted ruler of the Ivory Coast.
That’s Democratic with a capital D.