WASHINGTON, Dec. 27 (UPI) -- A weekend call by Ivorian leader Alassane Ouattara for a general strike went unheeded Monday with business reported as usual, a spokesman said.
Ouattara during the weekend called for a general strike in an effort to pressure incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo to step down.
Election officials in the Ivory Coast declared Ouattara the winner in a November runoff election, though a constitutional court overturned the results in favor of Gbagbo.
A spokesman at the Liberian Embassy in Washington told CNN that Ivorians ignored the calls by Ouattara.
Liberian fighters were involved in a 2002 civil war in Ivory Coast that divided the country between rebel-hold north and pro-government south. Ivorian elections were meant to unite the country, though U.N. officials reported about 100 people are fleeing political violence to neighboring Liberia each day.
The 15-member Economic Community of West African States said it was considering "legitimate force" to quell the political violence in the Ivory Coast.
Scores of people were killed in the violence since November. The international community has thrown its support behind Ouattara and British Foreign Secretary William Hague said it was up to Gbagbo to decide the future of the country.
"The people of the Ivory Coast do not deserve to be denied democracy, suffer violence or be forced to flee their country as refugees," he said in a statement. "Former President Gbagbo has a chance to bring this crisis to a peaceful conclusion."
