West Africa struggles to resolve Ivory Coast crisis

West African leaders sought to negotiate an end yesterday to the crisis in the Ivory Coast, even as they planned for a possible military intervention to force Laurent Gbagbo to cede power.

Three regional heads of state had flown to Ivory Coast on Tuesday to warn Mr Gbagbo to hand over power to his rival Alassane Ouattara or face military action, but left without a clear answer, promising to return next week.

“We are still talking,” said Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, chairman of the regional bloc ECOWAS and leader of its military powerhouse. “People are negotiating. We are discussing. That is why they (envoys) are going back.”

The foreign minister of Cape Verde, one of the states that delivered the ECOWAS ultimatum, said the region had dropped the threat of invasion “for now”, but it emerged that military chiefs had begun laying plans for action.

Abdel-Fatau Musah, director of external relations for the 15-member ECOWAS, said senior officers began meeting on Tuesday and Nigerian defence spokesman Colonel Mohammed Yerimah confirmed the session was under way.

A senior diplomat said the meeting in the Nigerian capital Abuja was about “the military planning... and the logistics” of any eventual operation.

The planning came as the three leaders who went to Ivory Coast admitted they had failed to convince Mr Gbabgo to make way for Mr Ouattara, the internationally- recognised winner of last month’s presidential election.

Presidents Boni Yayi of Benin, Ernest Koroma of Sierra Leone and Pedro Pires of Cape Verde had gone to Abidjan to deliver Mr Gbagbo an ultimatum: cede power or face the prospect of an intervention by ECOWAS forces.

The troika then flew on to Abuja to brief Nigeria’s Goodluck, who admitted the envoys had not broken the deadlock and said they would return on January 3.

Mr Pires had earlier said that a return to Ivory Coast was necessary.

His office said the “Ivorian parties” had asked for “time to reflect in order to find a viable way to conclude the electoral process, which is the only way to promote durable peace and stability in this West African country”.

Jorge Borges, Cape Verde’s foreign affairs secretary, said the focus of regional efforts was to find a mediated solution and that talk of a military intervention had been put on the back burner.

“This initial mediation has helped to establish a bridge to dialogue between the camps, and we are no longer talking of military intervention by ECOWAS which seems, thankfully, to have been set aside for the moment,” he said.

However, Mr Ouattara’s spokesman Patrick Achi said: “The mediators’ mission confirmed that Laurent Gbagbo is no longer President, it is only his departure that is being negotiated.

“If Cape Verde is saying that military action has been ruled out, it must certainly have news that Laurent Gbagbo is ready to go peacefully. And, with ECOWAS military chiefs meeting, the military option stays on the table.”