African Leaders Back Arms Embargo

The leaders of Nigeria, Senegal, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Togo and Gabon, meeting in Nigeria to discuss unrest in Ivory Coast, backed a draft U.N. Security Council resolution calling for an arms embargo on both rebels and the government.

The council had been expected to impose a ban on weapons purchases from Dec. 10 at a meeting today, but the six African leaders called for the sanctions to take immediate effect.

Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo’s representative at the talks condemned the call for sanctions. Gbagbo reportedly has begun buying fighter jets and helicopters to replace those destroyed this month by peacekeepers from former colonial power France in response to a bombing of their base.