[Iran Press TV] Former South African President Thabo Mbeki has departed the Ivory Coast with no success in his mediating effort to defuse the country's latest election row.Mbeki traveled to the Ivory Coast along with other international mediators in an attempt to resolve an apparent power struggle between presidential claimant Alassane Ouattara and the incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo.
Before his Monday departure, the South African mediator appealed to both parties for a peaceful resolution of the conflict over results of the latest election.
The country faces renewed unrest as Gbagbo was sworn in as the country's president on Saturday even though the electoral commission on Thursday declared Ouattara (Wah-tahr-ah), a former prime minister and top IMF official, the winner with 54 percent of the vote over Gbagbo's 46 percent.
A few hours later, Ouattara also conducted a swearing-in ceremony, putting the two rivals on a collision course.
Officials in Gbagbo's camp have alleged that massive vote fraud had invalidated the original results in most of the opposition's strongholds in north of the country.
Ivory Coast's Constitutional Council, reportedly allied with the Gbagbo, annulled vote results in seven provinces in the north, giving the incumbent president just enough margins to win the presidential poll.
As tensions between rival camps are mounting, the United Nations, aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society has ordered 460 of its non-essential staff in the country to leave.
Meanwhile,
...back at the ranch...
West African leaders, under pressure to defuse Ivory Coast's tensions, are scheduled to meet on Tuesday in Nigeria to renew efforts in resolving the country's political standoff.
Last Sunday, Ivory Coast held a second-round presidential election in the African country under tight security and an imposed curfew.
There have been violent festivities since October's first round of voting, which set up a competition between President Gbagbo and Ouattara. No candidate won a majority in the first-round voting.
The presidential election has been postponed six times over the past five years due to a political dispute in the country.
The latest poll was viewed as a turning point for Ivory Coast, which was torn in two by a 2002-2003 civil war that led to a political turmoil and harshly affected the country's once vibrant economy.