20101220
reuters

ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Supporters of Ivory Coast's Laurent Gbagbo have vowed to fight to the death to keep him as president of the world's top cocoa producer as pressure grows for him to quit after a disputed election or face sanctions.

His rival Alassane Ouattara has won almost unanimous international backing after his eight-point lead in a November 28 presidential vote was overturned on grounds of alleged fraud by the Constitutional Council, led by a staunch Gbagbo ally.

About 5,000 Ivorians have already fled to neighbouring countries as concerns grow that an election designed to draw a line under a 2002-2003 civil war will instead destabilise the country and a fragile region.

Both the European Union and the United States have warned Gbagbo that he and his entourage could face sanctions such as travel bans and asset freezes within days if he does not step down, but his camp has dismissed the threats as meddling.

"We have a sole battle: to ensure our dignity, our country's sovereignty is respected. It is up to us to choose our president," Young Patriots' leader Charles Ble Goude told a rally of the fervently pro-Gbagbo youth movement late on Sunday.

"This battle that we began in 2002 -- we are ready to die for it," said Ble Goude, who was named this month as Gbagbo's youth minister and who has been on a U.N. sanctions list since 2006 for making public statements advocating violence.

Referring to clashes between the group and the French military operation, known as Licorne, in 2004 that led to evacuations of thousands of French expatriates, he said:

"Licorne and us, we know each other. They've got our calling card. Its UNOCI that doesn't have it yet," he said of the 10,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping mission.