West African leaders struggle to end I.Coast crisis

West African leaders admitted Wednesday they had failed to find a solution to Ivory Coast\'s political crisis during talks with Laurent Gbagbo, and plan to return to the troubled nation next week.

Three regional presidents have been tasked with breaking the country\'s post-election deadlock, which has seen deadly clashes between supporters of Gbagbo and his internationally-recognised rival Alassane Ouattara.

The trio flew to Nigeria to brief Nigeria\'s President Goodluck Jonathan, chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), after late night talks with both would-be Ivorian leaders.

Presidents Boni Yayi of Benin, Ernest Koroma of Sierra Leone and Pedro Pires of Cape Verde had gone to Abidjan to deliver Gbagbo an ultimatum: cede power to Ouattara or face regional military intervention.

The Nigerian president, who as head of West Africa\'s military and economic powerhouse would be expected to greenlight any invasion, acknowledged the envoys had not broken the deadlock and said they would return on January 3.

"We are still talking," he told reporters after meeting Koroma and Pires.

"People are negotiating. We are discussing. That is why they are going back," he said.

Pires had earlier said that a return to Ivory Coast was necessary.

A statement from Pires\' office said that the "Ivorian parties" had asked for "time to reflect in order to find a viable way to conclude the electoral process, which is the only way to promote durable peace and stability in this West African country."

This stance differs from that taken by Ouattara\'s spokesman following the talks. Patrick Achi said Ouattara had told the envoys his status as head of state is "non-negotiable" and asked them to "return as soon as possible".

Both Gbagbo and Ouattara claim to have won Ivory Coast\'s November 28 poll run-off, but only the latter has been recognised as president by the international community, including ECOWAS and the United Nations.

Gbagbo\'s forces dominate the south of the country, home to the world\'s largest cocoa-exporting industry and the commercial capital Abidjan, while Ouattara\'s shadow government is blockaded inside its hotel headquarters.

There is no sign of the defiant incumbent loosening his grip. His supporters have begun harrassing United Nations peacekeepers and his regime has issued veiled threats against West African migrants living in Ivory Coast.

The country is home to millions of foreign workers, drawn to what is still the economic hub of West Africa to work in huge cocoa plantations, major ports and a small but promising oil production sector.

In neighbouring Mali, supporters of Ouattara occupied the Ivorian embassy in capital Bamoko, ordering out all diplomatic personnel and demanding Gbagbo\'s exit.

Even before the disputed poll, the country was split in two between the rebel-held north and Gbagbo\'s southern strongholds, and loyalist security forces hold the commercial capital Abidjan in an iron grip.

His troops have cornered Ouattara\'s shadow government in his former campaign headquarters, a luxury golf resort on the outskirts of the city protected by a cordon of 800 UN peacekeepers and supplied by helicopter.

Gbagbo has ordered French and UN troops to leave Ivory Coast, a demand they have rejected, insisting they recognise only Ouattara\'s rule, and around the city the "Blue Helmets" are under increasing pressure.

On Tuesday a Bangladeshi soldier was wounded by a machete and a UN truck burned out by a pro-Gbagbo mob -- in an attack that was filmed and broadcast triumphantly as a popular victory on Ivorian state television.

"Forces loyal to Laurent Gbagbo have disrupted UN food supplies," complained the Bangladeshi commander of the 9,000-strong military contingent in the United Nations\' UNOCI peacekeeping mission, Major General Abdul Hafiz.

"They have stopped the release of an estimated 40 containers, most of its containing food for UN peacekeepers, from Abidjan\'s port," he told AFP.

"They have set up check posts at different road crossings where our convoys were stopped and checked. The situation is tense and unpredictable."

The United Nations estimates that at least 173 people have been killed in post-election violence, many dragged from their homes at night by pro-Gbagbo forces, and that more than 19,000 refugees have fled the country.