ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast: West African leaders delivered a final ultimatum to Laurent Gbagbo in person Tuesday after threatening a military ouster if he doesn't accept an offer to go into exile in a neighboring country a month after the disputed election. The delegation was led by presidents from Sierra Leone, Cape Verde and Benin, who refused to comment to reporters after a three-hour meeting with Gbagbo. The incumbent leader who has been in power for a decade in Ivory Coast has so far shown no interest in stepping aside despite international calls for him to go. The delegation headed next to the hotel where internationally recognized winner Alassane Ouattara is based. While Ouattara has been endorsed by most of the world, Gbagbo still maintains control of Ivory Coast's military and security forces. The 15-nation regional bloc ECOWAS has threatened to use “legitimate force” if Gbagbo does not relinquish power. Nigeria has the strongest army in the region and is expected to play a major role if an operation is launched to oust Gbagbo. Ouattara's camp has been confident in recent days that such help is coming. “It's not a bluff,” one senior Ouattara adviser said Monday on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. “The soldiers are coming much faster than anyone thinks.” ECOWAS has intervened in past disputes, including the seizing of Sierra Leone's capital in 1998 that forced military junta leaders to flee and allowed an elected president to return to power. ECOWAS also intervened in Liberia in 1990 and its forces stayed for several years, and it has sent troops to Guinea-Bissau as well. Some analysts feel an ECOWAS mission in Ivory Coast would entail a full-scale invasion, causing numerous civilian casualties. Weeks of postelection violence have left at least 173 people dead, according to the UN. The toll is believed to be much higher: The UN said it has been unable to investigate reports of a mass grave because of restrictions on UN personnel movements.
