LOC23:33
20:33 GMT
WASHINGTON, Dec 21 (KUNA) -- The United States on Tuesday imposed travel
restrictions on members of Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbos cabinet.
"The citizens of Cote D'Ivoire expressed their will in elections on
November 28, with results which were widely declared by credible international
observers to be free and fair. Gbagbo's efforts to remain in power, despite
the expressed will of the Ivoirian people for Alassane Ouattara to be
president, threaten to compromise years of reconciliation and peace-building
efforts on behalf of the Ivoirian people," State Department spokesman Philip
Crowley said at press briefing.
The travel ban affects members of Gbagbos regimes, as well as other
individuals who support policies or actions that undermine the democratic
process and reconciliation efforts in Cote DIvoire.
Crowley said the ban affects at least a dozen individuals and is expected
to affect more.
"We've put into place a process, but as events unfold it will potentially
involve a fairly significant number of people, not only the president himself,
his immediate family, but also those who are his cabinet ministers, and those
who are continuing to help him remain in power," Crowley told reporters.
The US move follows a similar step by the European Union as the
international community seeks to ramp up pressure on Gbagbo to step down
following a Nov. 28 election that the United Nations says he lost. (end)
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