Ivory Coast, Part 5

If you want to be brought up to speed, check out the previous parts one, two, three, and four. 

Well, this situation has gone for bad to worse. Incumbent president, Laurent Gbagbo, still refuses to concede power to the recognized winner, Alassane Quattara. Now conflict and hostility are at their height. 

Currently, around 16,000 civilians have fled to neighboring Liberia, since the election in November. Liberia is expecting that within the next few weeks, if the situation is not resolved, that 100,000 people will cross the border as refugees. As for communication, the presidents of Benin, Sierra Leone, and Cape Verde visited with Gbagbo in order to reach for a peace solution. Sadly, all talks were futile, since Gbagbo was unwilling to reach a peaceful compromise. And to add to the tension around 9,500 UN Peacekeepers are stationed in order to prevent further hostilities and riots. 

The question was asked: is civil war inevitable?

According to the BBC…

"Not necessarily. Even during the civil war, there were never large-scale hostilities, rather the odd skirmish and riots in cities such as Abidjan, the commercial capital and a stronghold of Mr Gbagbo, which saw attacks on foreigners, Muslims and northerners.
But the UN has said violence so far has killed 173 people and its investigators have also found evidence of extrajudicial executions, torture and arrests."

The response of the African Union is that of sanctions in order to force Gbagbo out of power. Still Gbagbo has stated that any type of action from interventionists would be met with violent opposition. Yet the widespread theory is that more ethnic clashes will occur between Christians and Muslims, and between the pure Ivorian blood and those who are mixed (those of Burkina Faso decent). 

The question that is left unanswered is, when will this end?