[Al Jazeera] The head of the central bank of West African states, who is accused of not cooperating with the internationally recognised winner of Cote d'Ivoire's presidential elections, has resigned.The decision by Philippe Henri Dacoury-Tabley was announced on Saturday after a meeting of the heads of state of the West African Economic and Monetary Union in Bamako, Mali.
Cote d'Ivoire's incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo has refused to give up power despite international calls for his ouster. The regional central bank had recognised Alassane Ouattara as the head of state and revoked Gbagbo's access to state accounts in December.
Officials with the regional union said that only representatives of Ouattara's government would have signing privileges on state accounts. The regional bank, known by its acronym BCEAO, regroups the treasuries of eight West African countries.
Ouattara officials have said that despite this action, Gbagbo has still been able to access money from the central bank. Without access to state funds, there is speculation whether Gbagbo would be able to pay state salaries.
Gbagbo's supporter
In a statement read to media after the meeting, the union said that it accepted Dacoury-Tabley's resignation and called on Ouattara to propose a replacement for the bank.
Dacoury-Tabley is known to be a close confidant of Gbagbo. He said he was pressured into the resignation after having been accused by Ouattara's camp of going against the bank's policy to cut off funds to Gbagbo.
"I agreed to hand in my resignation as that is what was asked of me," Dacoury-Tabley said after the meeting.
He defended his actions as head of the bank, pointing to various practical and technical reasons for not giving control of Cote d'Ivoire's accounts to Ouattara.
"Some people can't understand what really went on," he said. "I am profoundly sad for the institution that I served for 35 years."
Cote d'Ivoire was represented at the Bamako meeting by Ouattara's prime minister, Guillaume Soro, who said this was a positive step for the country.
"The measures that were taken were good ones because the legitimate government of Ivory Coast could not accept that someone who confiscated power continued to withdraw money from the Ivory Coast's accounts," Soro said.
'Forced resignation'
The government of Gbagbo "rejected the forced resignation" of Dacoury-Tabley.