AFP/Abuja  

A UN peacekeeper stands in front of a crowd of refugees from Ivory Coast in Buutuo, Liberia. Over 46,000 refugees have arrived in Liberia in the last four weeks, and nearly 40,000 had been registered since a disputed election in Ivory Coast at the end of 2010

West African leaders met yesterday in a summit that will consider asking the UN to take further action on Ivory Coast after their regional bloc previously threatened to use force in the crisis. Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, the current chairman of West African bloc Ecowas, spoke of requesting UN action but he did not provide specifics at the opening of the two-day summit. “I believe we can pass a resolution to request the UN to take a little more serious steps on the Cote d’Ivoire situation,” Jonathan said of the 15-nation bloc. He also said: “I have no doubt we have the will, the commitment and the collective resolve to bring to an end the unfortunate crisis in Cote d’Ivoire, hopefully without resort to use of legitimate force.” The talks come three months after the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) held an emergency summit on Ivory Coast where they threatened the use of force if strongman Laurent Gbagbo did not step down peacefully. Gbagbo, ruled by his country’s election authority to have lost November polls, has remained defiant and the Ivory Coast teeters on the brink of civil war. An African Union official delivering a speech at the summit’s opening on behalf of AU chief Jean Ping said “events in the country in the last few weeks are very worrying.” “Violence is escalating,” said John Shinkaiye, Ping’s chief of staff. “I urge that the opportunity of your summit be taken to again implore Mr Laurent Gbagbo to do what is right for his people and his country.” Ping could not attend because he was occupied with issues in northern Africa, including Libya, according to the speech. UN chief Ban Ki-moon’s special representative for West Africa, Said Djinnit, said the UN peacekeeping force in Ivory Coast was facing an increasingly difficult job. “The UN, through its peacekeeping mission in Cote d’Ivoire, will continue to do its utmost to accomplish its mandate, especially with respect to the protection of the civilian population, despite the many obstructions posed to its work in an increasingly hostile environment,” he said. Both Djinnit and Ping’s speech spoke of the imminent appointment of an African Union high representative to follow up on recommendations from a panel of African leaders on resolving the crisis. The Ecowas summit, which also included the presidents of Liberia, Senegal, Benin, Mali, Togo, Cape Verde and Sierra Leone, as well as representatives from other nations, held closed-door talks after opening at an Abuja hotel. Before the summit opened, about 100 women protested outside the Ecowas headquarters in Abuja to urge leaders to stop the violence in Ivory Coast. “We are saying with one voice that our leaders should stop this violence in Ivory Coast and elsewhere in the subregion,” said protester Haja Manso Kamara of Sierra Leone. Ecowas has recognised Gbagbo’s rival Alassane Ouattara as president, as much of the world has also done, and suspended Ivory Coast from the bloc. But the potential use of force seems to have been put on the backburner. Nigerian Foreign Minister Odein Ajumogobia has said the UN must endorse any use of force to remove Gbagbo, adding that a blockade was an option if peaceful efforts fail. That has raised questions over whether such a measure would face opposition at the UN Security Council from countries such as China or Russia. The crisis has meanwhile only intensified following the disputed November election, with violent clashes between pro-Gbagbo forces and those backing Ouattara. According to the UN, at least 440 people have been killed. The Brussels-based think tank International Crisis Group said yesterday West African heads of state must decide on the creation of a military mission to protect Ivory Coast civilians. “Cote d’Ivoire is no longer on the brink of civil war; it has already begun,” it said. The summit will also review Ecowas’ suspensions of Guinea and Niger, both of which recently held elections to transfer power from military regimes. A decision will also be made on Chad’s request for observer status with Ecowas. Postponed from February, the summit is also expected to decide on its chairman for next year. Meanwhile, hundreds of supporters of Ivory Coast’s internationally recognised president Alassane Ouattara yesterday protested the “passivity” of the UN in the conflict-hit country. In Bouake, in the centre of the country, hundreds of mostly female protesters marched to the local base of the UN mission (UNOCI). Bouake is a stronghold of the pro-Ouattara Republican Forces, essentially made up of the former New Forces rebel group. Protesters bore placards reading: “UN: Libya, why not Ivory Coast? Save us, help us” and “UN: Ivory Coast-Libya, why 2 weights, 2 measures?”. Another read: “There is no oil in Ivory Coast, but there are human lives.” In a motion adressed to UNOCI, Jacqueline N’guessan, a local leader of the Ouattara camp, urged the mission “to apply the duty to intervene” to protect civilians and place militia recruited by strongman Laurent Gbagbo “out of harm’s way”. Pegabila Silue, president of the National Coordination of Youth for Democracy, said: “Ivorians are being massacred in front of UNOCI. We are protesting against this attitude.” He said he hoped that “from today onwards, UNOCI secures Ivorians and makes sure there is no more killing in the Ivory Coast”. The Ouattara camp has in recent days mounted criticism against the UNOCI, urging the mission to take stronger action to protect civilians who are bearing the brunt of the violence.