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Côte d'Ivoire - Nigeria

Nigeria pushes UN to green-light force in Côte d'Ivoire

Nigerian Foreign Minister Odein Ajumogobia called on the United Nations Security Council to authorise the use of force in crisis-hit Côte d'Ivoire. Ajumogobia, in a newspaper editorial printed throughout Nigeria, said that legitimate force can include a naval blockade to enforce sanctions which might be imposed against former president Laurent Gbagbo.

Reuters/Thierry Gouegnon
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"The use of 'legitimate force' is, however, not exclusively about military warfare in the conventional sense and therefore does not necessarily connote an 'invasion' by troops," wrote Ajumogobia.

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan is the current chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas). The regional body has threatened to use force against Gbagbo.

Gbagbo has refused to step down after the Ivorian electoral commission declared his challenger to the presidency, Alassane Ouattara, the victor in last November's elections.

While Ecowas has spoke of using force in Côte d'Ivoire, Nigeria is holding its own elections in April. Jonathan is running for president.

 

 

 

"Ecowas requires unequivocal international support through an appropriate United Nations Security Council resolution to sanction the use of force," wrote Ajumogobia in an editorial in Nigeria's 234 Next newspaper.

 

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