Nigeria Withdraws Fighter Jets From Ivory Coast
Nigeria withdraws from I-Coast
ABUJA - Nigeria has withdrawn three fighter jet it sent to troubled Ivory Coast after the Ivorian government refused a west African-brokered ceasefire deal. "They came back...," Group Captain Ibrahim Kure said. "It was a decision by the government." Three Nigerian Alpha Jet ground attack fighters and around 30 airforce support personnel were deployed on September 25 to Abidjan, six days after a bloody army mutiny split Ivory Coast into warring pro-government and rebel camps. But the planes were withdrawn after Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo snubbed attempts by west African countries, including Nigeria, to mediate a ceasefire between the two sides. With their removal, the chances that a west African peacekeeping force will be deployed to act as a buffer between the troops loyal to Gbagbo and the rebels appear to have receded. No political officials were available for comment on the redeployment, but observers in Lagos and Ivory Coast believe the west African mediators are angry at the Ivorian government's failure to endorse the ceasefire. The planes were sent under a bilateral agreement between Ivory Coast and Nigeria but officials of the Economic Community of West African States said they could have formed the vanguard of a regional peacekeeping force. Nigerian Foreign Minister Sule Lamido said last week that their primary role was to enhance the security of the large Nigerian expatriate population in Ivory Coast. AFP 10 October 2002 |
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