20101226
reuters

ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Three West African presidents will fly to Ivory Coast on Tuesday to tell incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo to quit or face force, Benin said on Saturday, a sign of mounting regional determination to force him out.

Gbagbo has so far resisted calls to cede power to rival presidential candidate Alassane Ouattara after a November 28 election which African neighbours, the United Nations, the United States and the European Union all say Ouattara won.

The United Nations said on Saturday it had so far counted 14,000 refugees fleeing Ivory Coast for neighbouring Liberia since the vote, as fears mount that the dispute will rekindle a 2002-03 civil war.

Humanitarian needs were increasing for the "mostly women and children refugees as well as for the villagers hosting them", UNHCR said on its website. Nearly 200 people have died in violence since the election.

The presidents of Benin, Sierra Leone and Cap Vert will tell Gbagbo on behalf of regional bloc ECOWAS "that he must step down as quickly as possible or face legitimate military force," Benin's Foreign Minister Jean Marie Ehouzou told Reuters.

A spokesman for Gbagbo's government -- which is also facing travel bans and funding freezes -- said on Saturday in an interview with Radio France Internationale that the ECOWAS threat of force was "unjust".

Christmas celebrations were muted in the country as fearful citizens stayed home. ID:nLDE6BO033]

"This is the worst Christmas I have experienced so far. Even in 2002 when there was war, it was better. The problem now is that people are tired. Two presidents, two governments, all this is too much for people," said Saibou Coulibaly, a toy vendor in the main city Abidjan.