20110328
reuters

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union governments are preparing possible harsher sanctions against Ivory Coast's Laurent Gbagbo to try to force the incumbent leader to relinquish power, EU diplomats said.

Pressure is growing for more international measures against Gbagbo, who claimed victory in a November poll despite U.N.-certified results showing he lost.

Violent clashes have since broken out across Ivory Coast, the world's top cocoa producer and once a sea of stability in West Africa.

The West African regional bloc ECOWAS called for the United Nations Security Council last week to adopt stricter measures, and EU member France circulated a draft resolution together with Nigeria at the U.N. last Friday.

"What else can be done? As the ECOWAS summit identified, there is more the U.N. can do and EU member states are fully supportive of action in the U.N. Security Council," a senior EU official told reporters on Monday.

"(A new U.N. resolution) would be a useful step forward, legally and as a symbol of the whole world united," he said.

The EU has imposed asset freezes and travel bans against Gbagbo and 95 of his associates, as well 13 entities such as banks, cocoa-exporting ports and a state oil company. But more could be added as early as next week, diplomats said.

"We have no agreement yet, but we are working on additional listings," another EU diplomat said.

There were signs Gbagbo's finances were being hit by sanctions imposed so far, diplomats said.

"I don't know what resources Gbagbo has at his disposal. He has looted the banking system, he has proposed to loot the cocoa business as well. He has been seeking to get his hands on whatever cash he can," one diplomat said.