Abidjan, Ivory Coast (CNN) -- A new year opened with intransigence in a divided Ivory Coast as two political rivals ignored threats and deadlines Saturday for one another to step down.
Self-declared President Laurent Gbagbo's camp had called on Ivorians to surround opposition leader Alassane Ouattara's hotel headquarters in Abidjan. And Ouattara had warned Gbagbo that if he did not relinquish power by midnight Friday, there would be no amnesty deal.
But neither man budged.
"Again, my opponent did not win," Gbagbo said in a New Year's address, according to the Ivorian Press Agency.
Three heads of state representing a West African regional bloc that tried to resolve the situation earlier in the week are scheduled to return to Abidjan on Monday. The delegation from the Economic Community of West African States will attempt again to persuade Gbagbo to concede.
Ouattara has been recognized internationally as the legitimate winner of the November 28 run-off election. The United States, the United Nations, the African Union and the European Union have all accepted Ouattara as the president-elect and he, in turn, has formed a government and made new diplomatic assignments. CNN
