AU names Kenya's Raila Odinga as Ivory Coast mediator

On Monday, supporters of Alassane Ouattara took over the Ivory Coast's embassy in Paris

The African Union has asked Kenyan PM Raila Odinga to lead its efforts to resolve Ivory Coast's political crisis.

The AU said Mr Odinga had been asked to "follow through the crisis", a month after the country's disputed polls.
The Union and other international bodies say incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo is not the legitimate winner.
A delegation of heads of state - from Benin, Sierra Leone and Cape Verde - from the West African body Ecowas is heading to the country for talks.
The regional group has warned Mr Gbagbo of possible military intervention if he does not hand over to Alassane Ouattara, who has been recognised internationally as the victor.
Mr Gbagbo's Interior Minister Emile Guirieoulou told a news conference that his government would "welcome the three heads of states as brothers and friends, and listen to the message they have to convey".
On Monday, supporters of Mr Ouattara briefly took over the Ivory Coast embassy in Paris.
Some 20 protesters spent six hours in the building calling for Mr Gbagbo to step aside, before leaving peacefully, French television reported.
The move came after France, the former colonial power, recognised Mr Ouattara's proposed envoy as the country's ambassador.
Mr Ouattara's victory in 28 November polls was overturned by the Constitutional Council, a body headed by a Gbagbo ally, citing claims that results were rigged in the north.
'Brothers and friends' Correspondents say the AU's appointment is another setback for Mr Gbagbo, as Mr Odinga has been hawkish on the crisis, and was the first African leader to call for military action.

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Mr Odinga has said he planned to talk to Mr Gbagbo, but would wait for the outcome of the Ecowas talks before deciding his next move.

"[Mr Gbagbo] has of course portrayed himself as a democrat all his life, that's why he lived very many years in France in exile," Mr Odinga told the BBC. "So I think I'm going to try to impress upon him that the time has come for him to lead by example."
"This, I think, is something that needs to be said and to tell him also that he risks becoming an international pariah if he tries to continue to cling to power. Going by the current trends he will have no friends left any more anyway."
Mr Odinga was named Kenya's prime minister in 2008 in a coalition government after weeks of political unrest.
However he dismissed the possibility of power-sharing between Mr Gbagbo and Mr Ouattara, saying that the election commission, not the constitutional court, was the only legitimate authority to determine the winner.