African powers in push to end Ivory Coast crisis

African powers launched a fresh diplomatic push for a peaceful solution to Ivory Coast’s deadly crisis yesterday, piling pressure on defiant leader Laurent Gbagbo to quit and avoid an armed intervention.

Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga, named by the African Union to try to broker an end to the stand-off between Mr Gbagbo and the man the world says beat him to the presidency, Alassane Ouattara, flew to Nigeria en route for Abidjan.

Mr Odinga, who has previously called for Mr Gbagbo’s removal by force, was meeting with Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, who also heads the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas).

Mr Odinga said he would keep an open mind on finding a solution for Ivory Coast.

“We don’t want to pre-empt anything. We just want to talk to him (Gbagbo) and we will see what happens,” Mr Odinga said after he arrived in Nigeria.

“It depends on how Gbagbo wants to handle it.”

Mr Odinga will meet the Ivory Coast strongman alongside three regional Presidents returning to Abidjan today on behalf of Ecowas, a source close to the African Union said.

Benin’s Boni Yayi, Sierra Leone’s Ernest Koroma and Cape Verde’s Pedro Pires have so far failed to convince Mr Gbagbo to step down despite Ecowas brandishing the threat of military intervention to oust him if mediation fails.

Mr Jonathan has said Ecowas will decide by tomorrow how to handle the impasse, which threatens to erupt into civil conflict.

West African regional military chiefs met in Abuja last week and set in motion plans to oust Mr Gbagbo if negotiations fail, according to a Nigerian defence spokesman.

A follow-up meeting to fine-tune the “last-resort” plan is scheduled for Mali on January 17 and 18.

Tensions have risen steadily in the deadly stand-off since Mr Gbagbo and Mr Ouattara both claimed victory in a November 28 presidential run-off vote that it was hoped would end a decade of crisis in Ivory Coast.

Mr Gbagbo and Mr Ouattara have fired off a series of deadlines at each other since then, with Mr Ouattara’s latest call for Mr Gbagbo to quit expiring unheeded at midnight on New Year’s Eve.

In return, Mr Gbagbo’s notorious “Street General”, Minister for Youth Charles Ble Goude, urged Ivorian youths to rise up after the New Year to seize control of Mr Ouattara’s besieged headquarters in the waterfront Golf Hotel resort.