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The special
delegation of West African Leaders sent to dialogue with Laurent Gbagbo
on the crisis in Cote D’Ivoire will be heading back to the crisis torn
country next Monday, following Mr Gagbo’s refusal to heed the ultimatum
given him by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), to
cede power, President Goodluck Jonathan said yesterday in Abuja.

Mr Jonathan, who as
ECOWAS chairman met with Presidents Ernest Bai Koroma of Sierra Leone
and Pedro Pires of Cape Verde, who were part of the special delegation
that met Mr Gbagbo, described the talks as positive.

He said he would not want to preempt the outcome of the discussions in the light of the fact that negotiations were still on.

He further stated
that conclusive decisions will not be taken until the delegation
returns from another negotiations meeting on the 3rd of January with Mr
Gbabo.

The Heads of states
and government of ECOWAS, at its emergency meeting held on December
24th, had expressed concern over the deteriorating political and
security environment in Cote d’ Ivoire The African leaders had
reiterated their position of 7th December 2010 that Alsassane Ouattara
is the legitimate president of the country and insisted it is
non-negotiable.

They also described
as unacceptable the high number of lives lost following the crisis
since its last meeting of December 7th, 2010 and warned all those
responsible that they will face international trial for human rights
violation at the earliest opportunity.

Threat of punishment

They leaders
further demanded the immediate and peaceful handover of power by Mr
Gbagbo to Mr Ouattara in accordance with the expressed wishes of the
Ivorien people.

The leaders had
also expressed their support for the travel ban, freeze of financial
access and all other forms of targeted actions imposed by regional
institutions and the international community on the out-going president
and his associates and said they will support any future addition and
all measures that may be taken in this direction.

They also expressed
regret that the message sent by the ECOWAS chairman on behalf of the
authority on December 17th was not taken serious by Mr Gbagbo in this
season of peace, hence the dispatch of the special high level
delegation to Cote d’ Ivoire.

“In the event that
Mr Gbagbo fails to heed this immutable demand of ECOWAS, the community
will be left with no alternative but to take other measures including
the use of legitimate force to achieve the goals of the Ivorien
people,” the ECOWAS leaders said.

They also
instructed Mr Jonathan to immediately convene a meeting of the
Committee of Chiefs of Defence Staff in order to plan future actions,
including the provision of security along the Cote d Ivoire, Liberia
border in the event that their message is not heeded.