By Ange Aboa and Bate Felix
ABIDJAN (Reuters) - The government of Ivory Coast's incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo said it would sever ties with countries that recognised envoys named by presidential claimant Alassane Ouattara in a powerful sign he was not about to quit.
"The government would like to make it known that in the light of such decisions, it reserves the right to apply reciprocity in ending the missions of their ambassadors in Ivory Coast," the government's spokesman said in a statement on national television on Tuesday.
French Foreign Minister Michele Alliot-Marie had said that France would accredit a new Ivorian ambassador at the request of Ouattara's government, which it recognises as the winner of last month's contested election.
Three west African presidents met Gbagbo earlier on Tuesday to deliver an ultimatum from the ECOWAS regional bloc to step down as leader of the world's top cocoa grower or face removal by force. After that meeting they met with Ouattara.
"All went well" in the meeting with Gbagbo, one of the leaders, Benin's President Boni Yayi, said as it ended.
He declined to give further details. The delegation planned to travel to Nigeria to report back to the bloc's chairman, Goodluck Jonathan.
Gbagbo's government has signalled he is unlikely to agree to bow to international pressure and cede power to Ouattara, considered by regional and world powers to be the legitimate winner of last month's presidential election.
The United States and the European Union have imposed a travel ban on Gbagbo and his inner circle, while the World Bank and the regional West African central bank have frozen his finances in an attempt to weaken his grip on power.
Gbagbo's government officials were not immediately available to comment after the meeting with the three presidents -- Benin's Yayi, Sierra Leone's Ernest Bai Koroma and Cape Verde's Pedro Pires.
Gbagbo's camp originally said it would welcome the visiting leaders "as brothers and friends, and listen to the message they have to convey." But shortly before the meeting, his government warned it would not tolerate any meddling in its affairs.
REJECTS INTERVENTION
"Let's avoid political delinquency. No international institution has the right to intervene by force to impose a president in a sovereign state," government spokesman Ahoua Don Melo told the BBC when asked if Gbagbo would leave.
Post-election violence has killed more than 170 people and threatens to tip the country back into civil war.
In a sign of mounting tensions, a crowd attacked a United Nations convoy on Tuesday, wounding one peacekeeper with a machete and setting fire to a vehicle, according to a statement issued by the U.N. mission in Ivory Coast.
Provisional election results showed Ouattara winning by 8 percentage points. But the nation's top court, run by a Gbagbo ally, overturned the results amid allegations of fraud.
The standoff turned violent this month after Ouattara supporters tried to seize the state broadcaster's building and clashed with security forces. At least 20 people were killed.
After several days of calm, sporadic gunfire was heard on Tuesday morning in the Abidjan neighbourhood of Abobo, a stronghold of Ouattara supporters. A Reuters witness said police were chasing youths trying to set up barricades with burning tyres. It was not known if there were any casualties.
(Writing by Richard Valdmanis; editing by Peter Millership)