African mediators leave Ivory Coast :

Presidential vote crisis continues

IVORY COAST:

African mediators left Ivory Coast without a breakthrough in the West African nation’s Presidential vote crisis after the man the world says won, Alassane Ouattara, said discussions were over. The four African leaders’ efforts appeared to come to a head as they left Abidjan late Monday after their latest talks with embattled incumbent Laurent Gbagbo, who is facing the threat of military action if he does not stand down.

“For us, the discussions are over,” Ouattara told journalists after meeting three presidents representing the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and Kenya’s Prime Minister Raila Odinga for the African Union. Ouattara, holed up in an Abidjan resort hotel protected by United Nations peacekeepers since the disputed November 28 presidential run-off, repeated his demands of Gbagbo. AFP