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BY BRANDON TWICHELL
ANCHOR: AUSTIN KIM

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While the world’s attention is focused on North Africa -- Egypt and Libya -- the power struggle in Ivory Coast is escalating. President Laurent Gbagbo is refusing to hand over power to the internationally-recognized winner in last November’s election. Close to 400 people have already been killed -- and the fear of an all-out civil war is growing.

A reporter for Al Jazeera reports on the clashes in the capital.

“Gbagbo’s forces have also launched a major offensive to get rid of pro-Ouattara militias at the Abobo district in the north of Abidjan. Abobo is mainly controlled by militiamen loyal to Alassane Ouattara, and they are only allowing UN peacekeepers access.”

A BBC correspondent tells NPR the military and the rebel forces had been staying out of the deadly political conflict until now.

“[F]or six years plus there was a cease-fire across the line, or the frontline, and there had not been fighting. So the fact that the opposing military forces are now clashing is what is really causing a lot of fear.”

The African Union responded to the ongoing conflict by freezing the Ivory Coast’s accounts and trying to negotiate a peace deal - which fell through. A writer for allAfrica says AU leaders fear the uprisings in the northern part of the continent will spread to their countries.

“[M]any of the heads of state are themselves shaking in their boots at the thought of their own masses taking to the streets...They talk of shock at the situation and urge restraint from all parties - the usual meaningless niceties.”

Finally, a writer for Daily Nation says international organizations like the AU are failing to end conflicts in Ivory Coast and Libya.

“Combined, Gaddafi and Gbagbo have exposed again the AU and the [Arab] League as, at best, useless...It’s obvious the AU and the League are incapable of persuading, let alone discipline, their les enfants terrible, even when consensuses of wrongdoing exist.”

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