Military Intervention Looms As Ivory Coast Talks Break Down

Regional leaders have failed to convince disputed president Laurent Gbagbo to step down.

Not even an offer of legal amnesty could convince Gbagbo to release his grip on power. Immunity against crimes he may have committed and assurances that his financial assets would remain secure were part of a package offered to him Monday by envoys from Sierra Leone, Benin, and Cape Verde, but the embattled incumbent has rejected the offer. Gbagbo became president in 2000 and claims to have won elections in November, but the international community and the Ivorian electoral commission proclaimed his rival Alassane Ouattara the victor. After talks broke down Monday Ouattara, who remains under UN guard at an Abidjan hotel, said the time for negotiations was over and urged West African states to launch a military intervention.