20101220
africanews

The European Union EU has agreed in principle to ban the incumbent President of Ivory Coast Laurent Gbagbo over last month's disputed elections, a diplomat told the BBC.

The diplomat who was not named said an agreement had been taken to ban Gbagbo and 18 of his allies from the EU.

He said the move was to be officially adopted by EU leaders within the next 24-48 hours and added this was a formality as all member states have backed the move.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy had given Gbagbo a deadline of Sunday to step down and hand over to the generally acclaimed winner of the November 28 polls - Alassane Ouattara.

Gbagbo and Alassane Ouattara both say they won last month's election. Gbagbo has ordered UN and French troops to leave as pressure mounts on him to vacate office.