Mambo bado si shwari Ivory Coast.....

In a country with recent experience of civil war, Mr Gbagbo's behaviour has been inexcusable

Residents raise their hands at a pro-Gbagbo checkpoint in Abidjan

Electoral fraud has taken a terrible toll in East and West Africa. In Kenya in 2007 around 1,000 people died and nearly 600,000 were displaced before the two candidates agreed to form a coalition. In Ivory Coast today both those totals have been exceeded, and the contestants are engaged in an armed fight to the finish. Laurent Gbagbo lost the race for the presidency in November, refused to step down and is now holed up in Abidjan by forces loyal to the winner, Alassane Ouattara. His removal from power is a matter of time.

In a country with recent experience of civil war, Mr Gbagbo's behaviour has been inexcusable. He manipulated the results of the poll, refused foreign mediation and whipped up feeling against immigrants. Ivory Coast has reverted to a chaotic state where rival armies, militias and mercenaries terrorise the civilian population. And the world's biggest producer of cocoa has suffered a drastic fall in exports.

The most encouraging aspect of this crisis has been global condemnation, whether by the United Nations, which certified the poll, America, the European Union, the African Union or the Economic Community of West African States. The decisive thrust had to come from Ivorian troops loyal to Mr Ouattara but foreign censure, backed by sanctions, has steadily undermined Mr Gbagbo. After he has gone, Mr Ouattara will have to try to reunite a country bitterly divided along north-south lines, a task made harder by the fact that his supporters have been massacring civilians. Everything was set fair for Ivory Coast when, buoyed by its cocoa crop and foreign investment, it gained independence from France in 1960. That it is being compared to Zimbabwe is a shocking reminder of how far it has sunk.