The Editor of the Insight newspaper Kwesi Pratt Jnr. has stated that it would be impossible for the international community to forcibly remove embattled Ivorian president Laurent Gbagbo from office. He said to overpower Gbagbo's military, ECOWAS forces would have to fight ‘street by street and door to door’, an option he said would claim the lives of many. The November 2010 election conducted in Ivory Coast was supposed to reunify the country which has been divided since a 2002 civil war but it has ended in a political stalemate, claiming the lives of about 462 and forced about 500,000 people to flee the country, according to the United Nations (UN). Contributing to discussions on Peace FM’s Kokrokoo Friday, Mr Pratt insisted “…[military] option is not a sensible option” and added that the best option available now is negotiation. He contended that the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) lacks clear direction in tackling the impasse, noting that member states still hold different positions on the crisis. He advised the regional body to confront the crisis with a united front, thus sticking to one principled position in its negotiation. ECOWAS has asked the UN to empower its force in Ivory Coast "to protect life and property and to facilitate the immediate transfer of power to Mr Alansane Ouatarra”. However Mr Pratt thinks such a move goes to indicate that the West African body has no capacity to resolve the impasse. The Editor said he feared that Cote d’Ivoire may become like Rwanda since the political struggle had now developed along tribal lines with indiscriminate killing of citizens. He warned that the whole of the West African sub-region would be engulfed in violence and suffer from the repercussions of war – due to the location of Cote d’Ivoire - if steps are not taken to immediately resolve the political deadlock, insisting that the only way forward was to initiate a re-run of election under the conditions of the UN . Meanwhile, spokesperson of the Ghana Football Association, Mr Randy Abbey, who was also a panel on the programme, was of the view that the Ivorian situation had escalated because of the hypocrisy of African Leaders whom he blames of championing their personal interest instead of being truthful to the course of ECOWAS. President John Evans Atta Mills had noted that Ghana did not favour a military option in resolving the crisis, fearing that the over two million Ghanaians in Cote d’Ivoire would be affected. But Mr Abbey questioned what would be the fate of those Ghanaians still in that country, now that the conflict seems to be escalating. He blamed the UN for not showing interest in the Ivorian situation, adding, “It is about time African Union leaders [are] honest and very truthful and leave out issues of relationships…” Story by Dorcas Efe Mensah/myjoyonline.com/Ghana