Switzerland freezes Ivorian leader Gbagbo assets

Geneva, 20 Jan – (ANA) - Switzerland says it has frozen all the assets held there by Ivory Coast's disputed leader Laurent Gbagbo.

Mr Gbagbo is refusing to hand over power to Alassane Ouattara, widely seen as the winner of November's elections.

The move comes as the UN Security Council approved an additional 2,000 peacekeepers for Ivory Coast to bolster the 9,800-strong UN contingent.

Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga has said that his latest mediation efforts to end the crisis have failed.

Later, Mr Gbagbo's Foreign Minister Alcide Djedje said he could no longer accept Mr Odinga as a mediator in the crisis.

"We think that he's become an actor in the Ivorian crisis and he cannot any more be the special envoy for the African Union," he said, after Mr Odinga had left the country.

UN peacekeepers are protecting Mr Ouattara in his temporary headquarters at a hotel in the main city of Abidjan. (ANA)

FA/ANA/20 January 2011-------