Ivory Coast Strike Call Goes Unheeded

Most workers in Ivory Coast's main city Abidjan have ignored a call to strike to force incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo from power.
The president's political rival, Alassane Ouattara, had called for a national shut-down Monday to increase pressure on Gbagbo to accept election results and step down. However, shops were open in Abidjan and street markets were bustling as normal. Some workers said they could not afford to skip a day of work.
Both Gbagbo and Ouattara claim they won last month's presidential election. The international community is recognizing Ouattara as the winner, and the West African regional bloc ECOWAS is threatening to use force to get Gbagbo to leave.
Gbagbo told France's Le Figaro newspaper Sunday that any attempt to use force to remove him from power could start a war in West Africa.
He said he takes the ECOWAS threat seriously, but will not back down. Gbagbo contends France and the United States are plotting to drive him out of power.
Three West African presidents are traveling to Abidjan Tuesday to try to persuade Gbagbo to step down. The presidents of Benin, Sierra Leone and Cape Verde are expected to offer  Gbagbo political asylum in exchange for his resignation.
The United Nations says more than 170 people have been killed in post-election violence in Ivory Coast.
The November presidential election was meant to stabilize Ivory Coast, eight years after a civil war split the country into rebel- and government-controlled areas.
Following the poll, Ivory Coast's electoral commission said Ouattara won with 54 percent of the vote. But Ivory Coast's constitutional court, which is led by an ally of Gbagbo, annulled 10 percent of the ballots saying they were fraudulent and announced Gbagbo the winner of the election.