Ivory Coast Gbagbo’s last chance to avoid force -rival

ABIDJAN, (Reuters) – Ivory Coast’s Laurent Gbagbo has  only days in which to leave power peacefully with immunity, the  prime minister of Ivory Coast’s presidential rival Alassane  Ouattara said today.
Three presidents from West African regional bloc ECOWAS are  planning a second round of talks on Jan. 3 with Gbagbo in an  effort to convince him to cede power to Ouattara or face force  after last month’s disputed election.
“The message seems clear. This is the last chance for Mr.  Gbagbo to get a peaceful departure from power and a guarantee of  immunity,” Ouattara’s Prime Minister Guillaume Soro told  reporters at the Golf Hotel, his rival governments’ headquarters  protected by some 600 U.N. peacekeeping troops.
Earlier, a spokesman for Ouattara said ECOWAS must use  military force soon or Gbagbo would become entrenched in power  and become more difficult to remove.
Gbagbo has shown no sign of giving in to growing  international pressure to step down as leader of the world’s top  cocoa grower since a top court, run by one of his allies,  overturned a Nov. 28 election result that gave Ouattara victory.
More than 170 people have been killed since the standoff,  which has threatened to restart a 2002-03 civil war. The United  Nations has said Gbagbo may be criminally responsible for human  rights violations, including killings and kidnappings by  security forces.
The United States and the European Union have imposed  sanctions on Gbagbo and his inner circle while the World Bank  and the West African central bank have cut off his financing in  an effort to weaken his grip on power.
ECOWAS defence chiefs met last week in Nigeria to work on a  possible intervention plan.
“Neither sanctions nor international pressure have convinced  Gbagbo to leave power,” Soro said. “I am calling for the use of  legitiate force. We have yet to see a dictator leave power  peacefully.”
A Gbagbo spokesman was not immediately available. Asked yesterday if he would leave in the event of an ECOWAS operation to  remove him, Gbagbo told Euronews television: “I will see, I’ll  think it over. But for the moment it’s not an issue.”
Soro said he asked the New Forces rebels still occupying the  north since the civil war not to intervene, but to support  whatever force does arrive to kick out Gbagbo.
Fearing a possible march by Gbagbo supporters, U.N. riot  police armed with shields and teargas did drills along the road  leading to the lagoon-side Golf Hotel, where U.N. troops stand  guard at sandbagged machinegun positions.
The roads have been blockaded by the Ivorian military since  a shootout between pro-Gbagbo and pro-Ouattara forces on Dec 16.  Only U.N. helicopters can get in or out, apart from the  occasional supply truck.
“We’re trapped,” said Ouattara supporter Traore Dramane, 24,  an importer, who sleeps on the floor in a makeshift dorm. “It’s  too dangerous to leave.  There are military forces everywhere.  If I try to leave I might get killed.”