ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo warned on Thursday the West African nation faced a catastrophe if candidates in Saturday’s presidential election do not resolve a standoff that has led to violent protests and an opposition call for boycott. Unidentified assailants torched several vehicles and assaulted residents in the commercial capital Abidjan late on Wednesday, police said, underscoring the tense atmosphere in a race marred by sometimes deadly clashes over President Alassane Ouattara’s bid for a third term. On the last day of campaigning ahead of the vote, Gbagbo said he felt compelled to give his first interview since being arrested in 2011 for his role in a civil war sparked by his refusal to concede defeat to Ouattara in the previous year’s election. The International Criminal Court acquitted him last year of war crimes charges related to the conflict, in which 3,000 people were killed.