BAMAKO — West African armies are ready to intervene in the Ivory Coast, where Laurent Gbagbo has refused to give up the presidency, and only need the political nod to go ahead, a Nigerian general said Thursday.




General Olusegun Petinrin was speaking after Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) military chiefs wrapped up talks in Mali, as another attempt by the African Union's mediator failed to persuade Gbagbo to quit.

West African nations have threatened to send in troops to dislodge Gbagbo, who remains immovable after a November 28 presidential poll that the election commission -- and most of the international community -- says he lost to Alassane Ouattara.

"We are ready on the military level. It is up to heads of state to give us instructions," Petinrin said.

The meeting that opened in the Malian capital Bamako on Tuesday was devoted largely to planning for using military force, if called on, to make Gbagbo cede power.

"We are now waiting to hear from the heads of state: if they tell us to go to the Ivory Coast to restore democracy, we will go," a military source told AFP.

Another officer from Nigeria, whose President Goodluck Jonathan is the current ECOWAS chairman, said the regional force would work with the UN operation in Ivory Coast "if the military intervention is decided."

The UN has about 9,500 soldiers in Ivory Coast and agreed Wednesday to deploy 2,000 more, despite Gbagbo's demands for the force to leave the country.

ECOWAS, which suspended the regional economic powerhouse in early December, has threatened the military option should mediation fail to persuade Gbagbo to leave peacefully.

ECOWAS military chiefs in December outlined an intervention force headed by Nigeria which would also provide the most troops including a combat squadron and attack helicopters.

The AU envoy, Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga, left Ivory Coast on Wednesday with no breakthrough after talks with both Ggagbo and Ouattara.

He was in Angola on Thursday and planned to later travel to South Africa for talks on the crisis, his spokesman Dennis Onyango said.

He dismissed comments from Gbagbo's foreign minister that Odinga was no longer wanted as mediator in Ivory Coast.

"He did not go there to negotiate with Gbagbo," Onyango told AFP. "He is AU envoy and whatever Gbagbo's people say about his mediation does not matter. His rejection does not matter. He is AU envoy."

"(Odinga's) mandate is that the AU has decided that Gbagbo has lost," Onyango said.

"He gave him the message. He rejected it because he did not move from his position. The PM made it very clear if the AU position of peaceful resolution failed, force will be used."

Odinga went to neighbouring Ghana, which opposes using force in the crisis, after leaving Abidjan, then to Mali and Burkina Faso. All three are ECOWAS members.

On Thursday he was due to meet Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, whose country is one of the few to have shown support for Gbagbo.

Ouattara's prime minister Guillaume Soro meanwhile had talks Thursday in Ouagadougou with Burkina Faso's President Blaise Compaore on his first official sortie out of the UN-protected Abidjan hotel where he is holed up with his boss.

He told journalists he was bringing a message from Ouattara concerning a summit of the eight-member mainly French-speaking West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) taking place in Bamako on Saturday.

Soro said he would attend the summit to ensure the application of a decision by the grouping's finance chiefs to accept Ouattara's signature on Ivory Coast's accounts in UEMOA's Central Bank of West African States.

He said he would meanwhile be visiting Togo, Niger and Nigeria, where he would have talks with Jonathan in Abuja.

Copyright © 2011 AFP. All rights reserved. More »


http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gBydq57vNX8c-hcfVyqyjTvt-jOQ?docId=CNG.dd4a72c03d05289270a5b0c91dbe7e44.561

Can Nigeria really afford this ?

frosbel:

Can Nigeria really afford this ?

Nigeria can afford almost anything that they really wanna afford . . . . . .

Fhemmmy:

Nigeria can afford almost anything that they really wanna afford . . . . . .

And so says Fhemmmy .

We cannot feed our people , we are sending soldiers to die for a potentially costly war that will further impoverish the country.

frosbel said:

And so says Fhemmmy .

We cannot feed our people , we are sending soldiers to die for a potentially costly war that will further impoverish the country.

Kindly show us the percentage of Nigerians dying of starvation.

Any pictures?

Afterall, if ''we cannot feed our people'', there ought to be literally hundreds of pictures all over the place of Nigerians dying in the street of hunger, with western aid agencies and the UN workers battling to save starving kids.

Please provide the evidence for your claim that ''we cannot feed our people'', including the numbers of those ''not fed''.

Or perhaps you're just good at regurgitating the same old tired, lazy, generic garbage promoted by those who know far less about their country than they think they do, especially those like yourself based in faraway London?

GEJ is too weak to be a leader of a country.First he gets bullied by FIFA,a sports organization, and submits. Now, he allowing the western powers to bully him again into killing his brothers and causing strife amongst west african countries.When is he going to ever grow some balls and say NO!

Whilst there is no security in the country we intervene abroad!
not a smart move GEJ

GEJ is dulling; he should take a cue from Ghana's Ata Mills.

African WW is looming. No one knows whom Gbagbo is depending on for military support. With Ghana keeping mute like Switzerland I wonder what the position of Senegal and other francophone countries are.

saintneo:

African WW is looming. No one knows whom Gbagbo is depending on for military support. With Ghana keeping mute like Switzerland I wonder what the position of Senegal and other francophone countries are.

They are indications that Angola and Zims are with Gbagbo. If that true it will also be a strong indication that China has got the guy back and men you don't want to mess with a country that is outborrowing the world bank . It is sad that why since Murtala Nigeria has scored less than 5% in international Affairs( na so so house boy job we don dey do). Right now the chinese are more willing to give us better arms than the west, so why fight for the west?

This reminded me of Abacha. We were on a dubious transition to democracy but the guy was sending soilders to Seirra Leone to dislodge coupe plotters!!!! We are strutting all over Africa, with our nyash opened and torn sandals

Tsiya:

This reminded me of Abacha. We were on a dubious transition to democracy but the guy was sending soilders to Seirra Leone to dislodge coupe plotters!!!! We are strutting all over Africa, with our nyash opened and torn sandals

I agree , we need to sort out our house first

frosbel:

And so says Fhemmmy .

We cannot feed our people , we are sending soldiers to die for a potentially costly war that will further impoverish the country.

Don't be self centered plz. USA is doing the same thing around the world.

aloy/emeka:

Don't be self centered plz. USA is doing the same thing around the world.

The US can afford it in a certain sense. We cannot.

Except in a situation of genocide which I will support , our involvement for any other reason is invalid.

We actually sit on a more explosive tinder box on Nigeria than Ivory coast.

Ola edo:

GEJ is too weak to be a leader of a country.First he gets bullied by FIFA,a sports organization, and submits. Now, he allowing the western powers to bully him again into killing his brothers and causing strife amongst west african countries.When is he going to ever grow some balls and say NO!

When are you going to ever  grow some brain cells and start thinking?

. . . ECOWAS was formed for a reason, to mediate in situations such as this, folding your arms while your neighbors suffer at the hands of a self imposed tyrant is the worst form of cowardice.  When are you lots going to stop blaming the West for everything including your girlfriends menstrual pain?

saintneo:

African WW is looming. No one knows whom Gbagbo is depending on for military support. With Ghana keeping mute like Switzerland I wonder what the position of Senegal and other francophone countries are.

Gbagbo is a sinking ship, whoever gets attached goes down under with him!

frosbel:

Can Nigeria really afford this ?

I agree with this post.  It's a situation too expensive for Nigeria ECOWAS to handle.  especially considering the uproar that is likely to result from a deadly battle between two factions.

The best solution is still to cut off all fundings to the Gbagbo's administration

frosbel said:

We actually sit on a more explosive tinder box in Nigeria than Ivory coast.

We've been hearing this for the last 40 years!!

Every day, some new doomsday merchant emerges with dire warnings of imminent national collapse. Disintegration into civil war and mass casualties, leading to the dismemberment of the Nigerian state.

Are you people not tired of repeating the same old dire warnings which NEVER materialize

I remember someone stating with confidence here a few days ago, how the PDP primaries would lead to national disintegration and ethnic conflagration, with the military forced to intervene in a coup!

Meanwhile, the primaries went and passed, the winner declared. The heavens have not fallen.

So please, enough of your silly predictions!! NOTHING GO HAPPEN!!!!

This is long over-due.It's time to teach all these greedy african leaders that it's not business as usual.

For how long do we continue to blame the europeans for our woes even when we are the architects of such problems.Gbagbo must go !

Bla bla bla, all said and done.

[size=13pt]
What is Nigeria getting back for this help? [/size]I know that the law was recently amended (not sure which one), something about Nigeria getting something back in return for every lap dance they give to other African countries.

The invasion has lost momentum & that element of suprise. Now Gbagbo would be scurrying d whole world looking for weapons, merceneries, & that joker weapon that would suprise ECOWAS soldiers, after all In today's world u can buy dirty & impoverished nuclear bombs in d black market for a few fist of dollars.

KnowAll:

The invasion has lost momentum & that element of suprise. Now Gbagbo would be scurrying d whole world looking for weapons, merceneries, & that joker weapon that would suprise ECOWAS soldiers, after all In today's world u can buy dirty & impoverished nuclear bombs in d black market for a few fist of dollars.

The invasion haven't lost any momentum. It would have been unacceptable to many countries and even at the UN to invade IC immediately after election. They were in demonising period. Just like Iraq and Saddam, they waited to build up propaganda and demonised Gbagbo by telling the whole world that he has refused to negotiate. While in clear terms, there was no negotiation on table. The AU, ECOWAS and UN were just offering Gbagbo and his family temporary sanctuary in Calabar before they hand him over to Hague




We are going to see the worst genocide in human history if Nigerian soldiers invade IC. It is not going to be like SL or Liberia where we faced rebels and to some large extend, we were just busy producing babies. If Gbagbo resisted and try to find, we are not going to be like American Soldiers in Iraq or Afghanistan with significant restrain. Our Soldiers will shoot at anything that move or creepeth on the earth. It is going to be a die - die thing.

Bt y are african leaders greedy lyk dis?

Do you really know the truth about these elections in Cote d'Ivoire
Alasan Ouattara winner was a sheer lie !!!!

This article extract  to testify the plot. That's an elephant in a room!!!
The UN special envoy misled the whole world on the elections results.
http://www.innercitypress.com/cote4choi011811.html

Numerous Security Council sources have described to Inner City Press a video briefing by Choi to the Council in its closed door consultations in which US Ambassador Susan Rice and French Ambassador Gerard Araud told Choi to go ahead and certify Ouattara as the winner, even before the Constitutional Council issued its ruling.

saintneo:

African WW is looming. No one knows whom Gbagbo is depending on for military support. With Ghana keeping mute like Switzerland I wonder what the position of Senegal and other francophone countries are.

Based on my earlier post, my insight tells me that this is an opportunity for the weapon merchants to profit from Africa again.

~Bluetooth:

This is long over-due.It's time to teach all these greedy african leaders that it's not business as usual.

For how long do we continue to blame the europeans for our woes even when we are the architects of such problems.Gbagbo must go !

So what do we do When after 5 years Mr Quattara refuses to hand over send troops to boot him out too? we should leave them to sort out them selves if it does not killed them it will make them stronger,

saintneo:

Based on my earlier post, my insight tells me that this is an opportunity for the weapon merchants to profit from Africa again.

So you are not bothered about the continued loss of innocent lives due to Gbagbo stubborness ?

superboi:

So what do we do When after 5 years Mr Quattara refuses to hand over send troops to boot him out too? we should leave them to sort out them selves if it does not killed them it will make them stronger,

Is this comment really necessary ? Let's wait till then.it's a matter of regional diplomacy,so we can leave them to kill themselves.

we ask any country which want us to do it for the money. I think $30 billion is a fair price.
If we have problem in Ghana too, are we going to use the military, if we have problem in senegal , are we going to use the military. I still believe Ivory coast electoral chairman played game. this is why I hold my peace. I would prefer power sharing just for the sake of peace. with the right time. gbagbo would leave like the rest of them.

A well planned surgical strike will be enough to decapitate the rag-tag Ivorien force.The Nigerian army/ECOWAS have the capacity to jettison Gbabo and his co-travellers.No need for any D-Day styled landings.But the Nigerian government should get Nigerians the hell outta there first.

~Bluetooth:

So you are not bothered about the continued loss of innocent lives due to Gbagbo stubborness ?

Currently some Nigerians have lost their lives in IC due to factional fights, other Ivorians lost their lives too - I am very brothered about these lives being lost. AU jointly agreed to keep Gbagbo in office so as to conduct credible elections, now we cannot be certain who won this election with all these disputes. A new election will ideal or a referendum that will separate both sides peacefully.

Any military intervention in Ivory Coast will go a long to indicate the level of idiocy among Africans. The issue is political and should be settle through political approach not military. The majority of responses to Ivory Coast’s political quagmire are very disappointing to say the least. Should Africans also resort to coups in order to change governments across the continent of Africa?

Dede1:

Any military intervention in Ivory Coast will go a long to indicate the level of idiocy among Africans. The issue is political and should be settle through political approach not military. The majority of responses to Ivory Coast’s political quagmire are very disappointing to say the least. Should Africans also resort to coups in order to change governments across the continent of Africa?

what examples of political approach would you recommend?

saintneo:

Currently some Nigerians have lost their lives in IC due to factional fights, other Ivorians lost their lives too - I am very brothered about these lives being lost. AU jointly agreed to keep Gbagbo in office so as to conduct credible elections, now we cannot be certain who won this election with all these disputes. A new election will ideal or a referendum that will separate both sides peacefully.

Conduct another election for what ?

Dede1:

Any military intervention in Ivory Coast will go a long to indicate the level of idiocy among Africans. The issue is political and should be settle through political approach not military. The majority of responses to Ivory Coast’s political quagmire are very disappointing to say the least. Should Africans also resort to coups in order to change governments across the continent of Africa?

what part of the whole saga did you not understand ?
Virtually all diplomatic avenue have been exploited and the stubborn Gbagbo is still bent on hanging on to power,hence,the need for military intervention to restore the duely elected president.Gbagbo's government is illegal and some democrats are not happy about it.