ABUJA: The Ivory Coast crisis remains deadlocked, the leader of the West African regional bloc ECOWAS said on Tuesday, as talks were under way to press strongman Laurent Gbagbo to step down as president.
"There is still a stalemate," Nigerian president and ECOWAS head Goodluck Jonathan told reporters after meeting with envoys who met Gbagbo and his rival Alassane Ouattara on Monday.
Jonathan spoke as he stepped out of the meeting to attend to a scheduled national programme in the oil state of Delta and said he would return to the talks later in the day.
"The team is still meeting now. I will come back to meet with them. So we will continue with the discussion but ECOWAS' position as issued in the communique after our (December 24) meeting still stands," he said.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) agreed at its last summit that Gbagbo should cede power to Ouattara or face forced removal.
West African regional military chiefs met in Abuja last week and set in motion plans to oust Gbagbo if negotiations fail, according to a Nigerian defense spokesman.
A follow-up meeting to fine-tune the ‘last-resort’ plan is scheduled for Mali on January 17 and 18.
Jonathan said: "We are dialoguing."
"Anything that has to do with crisis in a nation... takes time."
"Don't expect that if there is a major crisis in a country, you just jump in in one week and that matter is resolved. It takes a lot of international pressure to convince people like that," said Jonathan.