West African presidents tell Ivory Coast leader to step down or face force

A delegation of three West African presidents who met incumbent Ivory Coast leader Laurent Gbagbo yesterday to deliver an ultimatum to step down or face force left saying more meetings were needed.

The Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS, has overseen military interventions in West Africa in the past and has said it would use «legitimate force» if Gbagbo does not relinquish power.

Gbagbo’s government remained defiant in the face of international pressure to cede power, saying it would sever ties with any country that recognised envoys named by rival presidential claimant Alassane Ouattara.

Weeks of post election violence have left at least 173 people dead, according to the UN.

In a sign of escalating tensions in the country, the U.N. mission said that one of its peacekeepers had been wounded with a machete when a large crowd in a pro-Gbagbo neighborhood encircled a convoy and set one of its three vehicles on fire.

Listen to report by Kelsea Brennan-Wessels: