West African leaders held a crisis summit on Sunday over unrest in Ivory Coast as the country's president took a tough stance, sacking his army chief and installing a more hardline officer in his place. President Laurent Gbagbo also vowed to restore his air force, crippled by former colonial power France last week after the Ivorian military bombed a French base during an assault on the rebel-held north, killing nine French peacekeepers and shattering an 18-month ceasefire. France's action touched off days of violence, including rapes, machete attacks and looting, by Ivorian militants against French and other foreign citizens, prompting thousands to flee a country once regarded as a model of stability and prosperity. Regional leaders met in the Nigerian capital Abuja, fearing full-scale war in the world's top cocoa grower would destabilise all of West Africa, a neighbourhood which includes fragile post-conflict states such as Liberia and Sierra Leone. "The main agenda ... is to find ways lasting peace can be achieved in Ivory Coast, especially stopping the fighting going on there," said a spokeswoman for Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, who called the talks as chairman of the African Union. Gbagbo sent his parliament speaker to the meeting, attended by the leaders of Burkina Faso, Gabon, Ghana, Senegal and Togo. --More 2121 Local Time 1821 GMT
