France will seek a vote in the UN Security Council today to impose an arms embargo and other bans on Ivory Coast after a ceasefire was broken and nine French soldiers were killed by government bombings.
The vote, which may take place this afternoon, was delayed last week to give African Union officials a chance to negotiate a truce between rebels, who control the north of the country, and the government, which holds the south.
A summit among West African leaders in Nigeria yesterday backed the arms embargo and asked that it be imposed immediately, rather than on December 10th as a draft resolution says - presumably to stop the collection of more weapons.
Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo has replaced his military chief with a hard-liner and vowed to rebuild his small air force, destroyed by France in retaliation for the killing of their peacekeepers earlier this month.
France's draft resolution - co-sponsored by the United States, Britain, Germany, Spain, Romania and Chile - would impose an arms embargo on all sides, although enforcing it will be difficult.
The text also calls for a travel ban and a freeze on "funds and other financial assets" to be imposed against unspecified individuals to be decided later by a Security Council panel.
Mr Gbagbo is likely to be on the list, diplomats said. The individuals would include those who threatened the peace and "reconciliation process" as well as those "determined as responsible for serious violations of human rights," the resolution says.
Ivory Coast has been plagued by violence since rebels bent on ousting Mr Gbagbo seized the north two years ago. More than 10,000 French and United Nations peacekeepers are deployed to keep the two sides apart.
France's counterattack touched off a wave of violence, prompting thousands to flee the world's top cocoa grower, once regarded as a model of stability. Yesterday, France airlifted more than 1,000 expatriates in a fifth day of evacuation.