EU visa restrictions on Côte d’Ivoire’s former President Gbagbo and aides

European Union Member States announced at the end December 2010 travel restrictions on a further 59 individuals who are deemed to be obstructing the peace process in Cote d'Ivoire and jeopardising the proper outcome of the electoral process. This decision will shortly be published shortly in the EU’s Official Journal.

This follows a similar EU decision earlier in December 2010 when restrictive measures were placed on leading figures in Cote d’Ivoire who refused to place themselves under the authority of the democratically elected president, Alassan Ouattara. An EU visa ban was imposed on former president Laurent Gbagbo and 18 other individuals.

The EU has stated that it is ready to take further targeted restrictive measures against those who continue to obstruct the respect of the sovereign will expressed by the Ivorian people in the November 2010 Presidential elections.