By Pauline Bax
March 2 (Bloomberg) -- Ivory Coast’s Laurent Gbagbo, who refuses to cede the presidency of the West African nation, ordered the closely held electricity utility to cut power supplies to the north of the country, the company said.
The Mines and Energy Ministry sent three men with an armed escort to the company on Feb. 28 to order the suspension of power supplies, the Compagnie Ivoirienne d’Electricite said in a statement late yesterday.
Gbagbo’s rival Alassane Ouattara, the internationally recognized winner of a Nov. 28 election, draws much of his support in the northern half of the country, which shares borders with Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mali and Guinea. In six northern regions, Ouattara received 85 percent of votes, according to the country’s electoral commission.
The world’s second-biggest cocoa producer has been divided between a rebel-held north and government controlled south since an uprising of mutinous army officers led to a civil conflict in 2002-3. Gbagbo has ruled for a decade and refuses to hand power to Ouattara, alleging electoral fraud in the north…
Copyright, Blaise APLOGAN, 2010,© Bienvenu sur Babilown
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