Gbagbo demands UNOCI, LICORNE leave

It's good to want things, I'm told. Even if you can't have them.

Ivory Coast's Gbagbo tells UN, French forces to leave Ivory Coast.

ABIDJAN, Dec 18 (Reuters) - The government of Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo has told the United Nations and French peacekeeping missions to leave the country, escalating a dispute over last month's elections.

"The government demands the departure of the UNOCI and LICORNE forces in Ivory Coast and is opposed to any renewal of their mandate," said spokeswoman Jacqueline Oble, reading a statement over state television.

"UNOCI has interfered seriously in the internal affairs of Ivory Coast," she said.

UNOCI, as mentioned here previously, is the U.N. peacekeeping mission to Côte d'Ivoire; LICORNE, a.k.a. Operation Unicorn, is the French military intervention in Côte d'Ivoire that remains separate from the U.N. force and under French control.

This is looking more and more like a "forced removal" situation... forced removal of L. Gbagbo from power, that is. Most unfortunate, that. Then again...

T.I.A.