Abidjan, Ivory Coast (CNN) -- Ivory Coast's President-elect Alassane Ouattara is "confident" that military action to remove self-declared President Laurent Gbagbo is on its way, he told CNN Thursday.
Ouattara said he expects the regional group the Economic Community of West African States to intervene in the situation. But he doesn't think such military intervention will lead to civil war, he added.
The cocoa-producing West African nation was plunged into crisis after Ouattara was declared the winner of the November presidential runoff election, but Gbagbo, the incumbent, refused to leave office.
The U.S. Treasury froze Gbagbo's assets in the United States on Thursday, and barred Americans from doing business with him. His wife and three top aides also were sanctioned. CNN
