20110311
reuters

ABIDJAN/ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Senegal's leader, Abdoulaye Wade, said on Friday Ivory Coast was "entering a phase of war" after the latest attempt by the African Union to resolve a power struggle by diplomacy failed.

Incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo rejected an AU proposal at a summit on Thursday offering him a safe exit in return for ceding power to rival Alassane Ouattara, winner of a disputed November poll according to U.N.-certified results.

Ouattara said on Friday he could not in any case have accepted the power-sharing pact because it would be illogical for him to form a unity government with Gbagbo allies still in control of the top cocoa grower.

"Ivory Coast is entering a phase of war," Wade, president of nearby Senegal, told French-language Africa news website Slateafrique.com.

"No one likes violence ... but in the case of Ivory Coast it is inevitable because it does not come from outside but from the internal situation," he said of the longstanding divide between the mainly Christian south where Gbagbo draws much of his support and the largely Muslim north which backs Ouattara.

Gbagbo's camp said on Thursday a repeat of a 2002-2003 civil war was possible, while rebels who control the north declared that force was the only way to remove Gbagbo from power.

Residents reported new gunfire in the Abidjan suburb of Abobo which has seen weeks of heavy fighting between insurgents backing Ouattara and security forces loyal to Gbagbo.

The conflict has sent cocoa futures near to 32-year highs