ABIDJAN – Former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo was in Ivory Coast Sunday shuttling between embattled strongman Laurent Gbagbo and his internationally recognised rival in a bid to mediate an end to the crisis.
A source close to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) said that Obasanjo, who headed Nigeria both as military ruler and as elected president, was in Abidjan holding talks.ECOWAS has been mediating the crisis pitting Gbagbo against the man deemed to have won a November presidential run-off, Alassane Ouattara, and has said it could use force to get rid of Gbagbo if talks fail.Obasanjo arrived Saturday and held further talks on Sunday with Gbagbo and Ouattara, an African diplomatic source told AFP.The trip had not been previously announced and no Nigerian official in Abidjan or Abuja would provide details on Obasanjo’s agenda.The former Nigerian leader was sent by the current head of ECOWAS, Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan, the source said.Obasanjo explained to Gbagbo ‘the inevitability of the change over of power’ for Ivory Coast’s head of state, and expressed ‘Africa’s determination to achieve this objective’, the source said.The latest bid by three ECOWAS heads of state and the African Union to mediate an end to the crisis that has seen at least 210 people killed floundered last week. – Nampa-AFP
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