The international community is urging the United Nations to beef up its stance on the situation in Ivory Coast, which is now teetering on a civil war following post-election violence.
The Economic Community Of West African States plans to request the U.N. to adopt a mandate for military intervention as a “last resort,” while France and Nigeria has proposed a resolution to the U.N. Security Council to impose sanctions on incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo and a ban on heavy weapons from the Abidjan area, Reuters reports.
The ongoing political violence in Ivory Coast has displaced some 1 million people, a key U.N. official said Friday (March 25).
“The deteriorating security situation and the escalation in the use of heavy weapons has had a serious toll on the lives and well-being of the Ivorian people,” U.N. Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Atul Khare told the Security Council.
