Ivory Coast strongman Laurent Gbagbo clung unflinchingly to power yesterday, warning West African leaders any attempt to oust him by force would ruin the regional economy and trigger a bloody war.

Tomorrow, three West African presidents will visit Abidjan in a bid to convince the defiant 65-year-old leader to step down, a last-ditch plea that comes backed by a threat of military intervention.

But Mr Gbagbo, who claims to have won last month’s presidential election, is in no mood to stand aside for his long-time rival Alassane Ouattara, who has been recognised as the victor by UN vote monitors and world powers.

“The President will welcome them as brothers,” Mr Gbagbo’s interior minister, Emile Guirieoulou, told reporters when asked about the upcoming visit by the leaders of Sierra Leone, Cape Verde and Benin. “That said, the respect of our constitution is non-negotiable for us. So if they respect the constitution of the Ivory Coast, we can talk. If they try to deny its prerogatives and competences, the President will answer.”

Several international leaders, including UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, have warned Mr Gbagbo’s stubbornness could plunge Ivory Coast back into civil war.

But Mr Gbagbo’s supporters turned the warning around, claiming instead that the threat of military action by the West African bloc ECOWAS poses a greater risk of mass civilian casualties and a regional conflagration.

The regime’s spokesman Ahoua Don Mello branded the West African move a “Western plot directed by France” and warned that military action could put millions of regional immigrants in Ivory Coast in danger.

“The people of Ivory Coast will mobilise. This boosts our patriotism. This strengthens our faith in Ivorian nationalism,” said Don Mello, who serves as minister for infrastructure and sanitation in Mr Gbabgo’s government.

Yesterday, both camps accused the other of forcing the refugees, who come from a divided area in the west of the country, to flee.

Mr Gbagbo’s forces remain firmly in charge in Abidjan, where they have been accused of carrying out scores of killings in pro-Ouattara areas.

Mr Ouattara’s shadow government is under siege in an Abidjan resort, protected by 800 UN peacekeepers, but unable to move beyond the grounds of the Golf Hotel nor take charge of the levers of state power.