Accra - African leaders met in Ghana on Sunday for a crisis summit on the rebellion in Ivory Coast, but there were clear signs that neither the government nor rebels would welcome intervention by a regional military force.
Hundreds of people have been killed and thousands have fled their homes since a failed coup attempt on September 19 turned into a wider conflict in the world's largest cocoa producer.
The 11-day conflict threatens to further destabilise fragile West Africa. Underlining the gravity of the crisis, President Thabo Mbeki flew up from South Africa to join regional leaders at the one-day summit in Accra.
The summit is looking at plans to despatch a sizeable military force to Ivory Coast, once known as a model of peace and prosperity.
But the government of President Laurent Gbagbo has made clear it wants diplomatic support and arms, not foreign troops of the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas).
The regional grouping's Ecomog intervention force has been deployed in the past in Liberia and Sierra Leone.
On Sunday, a commander of the rebels, who control swathes of northern and central Ivory Coast, said they would regard foreign intervention as an attempt to deprive them of victory.
"If Ecomog comes here there won't be peace for 20, 30, 40 years. There must be justice," Tuo Fozie said.
Gbagbo, Mbeki and the leaders of Togo, Senegal, Mali, Niger, Guinea Bissau and Cape Verde were joined in Accra by President Blaise Compaore of Burkina Faso, which Ivory Coast has accused in the past of harbouring rebels.
Fearing danger to their own countries from the turmoil in the region's second biggest economy, the leaders will discuss a possible Ecomog deployment.
"Each country will say how many troops they are going to provide and we will decide the command structure of the forces positioned in Ivory Coast," Senegal's President Abdoulaye Wade told reporters in Dakar before leaving for Ghana.
Ivorian Defence Minister Moise Lida Kouassi said on Saturday the government was asking African friends and former colonial power France for transport, field communications, munitions and other supplies, but said Ivorian troops would do the fighting.
Ecowas Executive Secretary Mohammed ibn Chambas told reporters at Accra airport that Ivory Coast was a test of Africa's resolve to break with a past of bloody military coups.
"We are determined to put the history of coups behind us. No government which comes to power through a coup will be recognised," he said.
Chambas, a Ghanaian, said Ecowas had asked member states to put units in their armed forces on stand-by for possible intervention. However, he stressed a peaceful resolution was "the preferred option".
"The heads of state will find out who is behind the trouble in Ivory Coast, what their grievances are and as a first step will try to find a peaceful resolution," he said.
He said the rebels, who say they are simply ex-soldiers protesting at unfair retirements from the army, would not attend the summit in Accra, although he added there had been "some contact" with them.
Western diplomats say they also believe Liberians, possibly mercenaries, are among the rebel forces.
PIC: Sunday September 29, 08:14 PM -- President of Burkina Faso, Blaise Campaore, extreme right, and President of Ivory Coast, Laurent Gbagbo, extreme left, stand up as the ECOWAS anthem is played at an urgently called ECOWAS summit in Accra, Ghana, Sunday Sept. 29, 2002. Ivory Coast has repeatedly accused unspecified foreign countries, widely assumed to include Burkina Faso, of fomenting unrest that has overtaken the country. (AP Photo/Saurabh Das)
Accra - African leaders met in Ghana on Sunday for a crisis summit on the rebellion in Ivory Coast, but there were clear signs that neither the government nor rebels would welcome intervention by a regional military force.
Hundreds of people have been killed and thousands have fled their homes since a failed coup attempt on September 19 turned into a wider conflict in the world's largest cocoa producer.
The 11-day conflict threatens to further destabilise fragile West Africa. Underlining the gravity of the crisis, President Thabo Mbeki flew up from South Africa to join regional leaders at the one-day summit in Accra.
The summit is looking at plans to despatch a sizeable military force to Ivory Coast, once known as a model of peace and prosperity.
But the government of President Laurent Gbagbo has made clear it wants diplomatic support and arms, not foreign troops of the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas).
The regional grouping's Ecomog intervention force has been deployed in the past in Liberia and Sierra Leone.
On Sunday, a commander of the rebels, who control swathes of northern and central Ivory Coast, said they would regard foreign intervention as an attempt to deprive them of victory.
"If Ecomog comes here there won't be peace for 20, 30, 40 years. There must be justice," Tuo Fozie said.
Gbagbo, Mbeki and the leaders of Togo, Senegal, Mali, Niger, Guinea Bissau and Cape Verde were joined in Accra by President Blaise Compaore of Burkina Faso, which Ivory Coast has accused in the past of harbouring rebels.
Fearing danger to their own countries from the turmoil in the region's second biggest economy, the leaders will discuss a possible Ecomog deployment.
"Each country will say how many troops they are going to provide and we will decide the command structure of the forces positioned in Ivory Coast," Senegal's President Abdoulaye Wade told reporters in Dakar before leaving for Ghana.
Ivorian Defence Minister Moise Lida Kouassi said on Saturday the government was asking African friends and former colonial power France for transport, field communications, munitions and other supplies, but said Ivorian troops would do the fighting.
Ecowas Executive Secretary Mohammed ibn Chambas told reporters at Accra airport that Ivory Coast was a test of Africa's resolve to break with a past of bloody military coups.
"We are determined to put the history of coups behind us. No government which comes to power through a coup will be recognised," he said.
Chambas, a Ghanaian, said Ecowas had asked member states to put units in their armed forces on stand-by for possible intervention. However, he stressed a peaceful resolution was "the preferred option".
"The heads of state will find out who is behind the trouble in Ivory Coast, what their grievances are and as a first step will try to find a peaceful resolution," he said.
He said the rebels, who say they are simply ex-soldiers protesting at unfair retirements from the army, would not attend the summit in Accra, although he added there had been "some contact" with them.
Western diplomats say they also believe Liberians, possibly mercenaries, are among the rebel forces.
PIC: Sunday September 29, 08:14 PM -- President of Burkina Faso, Blaise Campaore, extreme right, and President of Ivory Coast, Laurent Gbagbo, extreme left, stand up as the ECOWAS anthem is played at an urgently called ECOWAS summit in Accra, Ghana, Sunday Sept. 29, 2002. Ivory Coast has repeatedly accused unspecified foreign countries, widely assumed to include Burkina Faso, of fomenting unrest that has overtaken the country. (AP Photo/Saurabh Das)
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