France has asked its citizens to leave Ivory Coast as a violent power struggle deepens between the West African state's incumbent Laurent Gbagbo and his rival Alassane Ouattara. Gbagbo has refused to step down following a November 28 presidential election that African states and western powers say he lost to Ouattara, in a dispute that has already killed 50 people and threatens to restart a civil war. "We ask those who can to leave Ivory Coast temporarily until the situation normalises," government spokesman Francois Baroin told reporters in Paris. France has about 15,000 nationals in its former colony. The European Union and the United States have slapped sanctions on Gbagbo and members of his inner circle in an attempt to pressure him to step down, and African countries have offered him a soft landing in exile. But Gbagbo has show no sign of caving in to the pressure and late on Tuesday invited an international committee to re-examine the results of the vote, a move that a Ouattara spokesman on Wednesday dismissed as a delay tactic. "For the past five years he tried manoeuvres to postpone the elections. Finally we got there, he lost, and he doesn't want to give up power," said Patrick Achi, a spokesman for Ouattara's rival government, by telephone. "We don't think he's changed one bit." Nigeria, one of the countries that has offered Gbagbo exile, said on Tuesday it evacuated all of its diplomats from Ivory Coast after an attack on its embassy in Abidjan, and would also bring out its other citizens. The turmoil in the world's top producer of cocoa has boosted cocoa prices to recent four-month highs, disrupting export registrations and raising the spectre that fighting could block transport and shipping. HOTEL BLOCKADE Provisional results from the poll showing Ouattara with an 8 point victory in the election were validated by the United Nations but overturned by Ivory Coast's top legal body, headed by a staunch Gbagbo ally, on grounds of alleged fraud. The United Nations Security Council this week defied Gbagbo by extending the mandate of its 10,000 strong peacekeeping force, rejecting his request they leave. The peacekeepers are protecting an Abidjan hotel where Ouattara has set up his headquarters and rival government, and U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has accused Gbagbo's forces of trying to blockade it. The election, delayed repeatedly since 2005, was meant to reunite the country following a 2002-03 civil war that split it into a rebel-held north and a government-controlled south. But it has instead deepened divisions. Gun battles briefly broke out last week between government soldiers and the rebels who now back Ouattara. The turmoil has sent food prices in Abidjan shooting higher, has choked transport, and has led many shops to close. The yield on Ivory Coast's Eurobond rose to record highs on Tuesday over 14 percent -- a sign of investor concern over the country's ability to repay. By early Wednesday the yield had dipped back below 13 percent. Source: Reuters