Pressure ratcheted up Sunday on Ivory Coast's defiant leader Laurent Gbagbo to quit, as regional mediators launched a fresh round of diplomacy in search of a peaceful solution to the deadly crisis.
Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga, named by the African Union to try to broker an end to the stand-off between Gbagbo and the man the world says beat him to the presidency, Alassane Ouattara, flew to Nigeria en route for Abidjan.
Odinga, who has previously called for armed intervention to remove Gbagbo, was to meet later Sunday with Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, who also heads the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
Odinga said that he would keep an open on mind on finding a solution for Ivory Coast, and that he would join three regional presidents due to travel to Abidjan for a second time in a week on Monday.
"We don't want to pre-empt anything. We just want to talk to him (Gbagbo) and we will see what happens," Odinga told AFP after he arrived in Nigeria.
Benin's Boni Yayi, Sierra Leone's Ernest Koroma and Cape Verde's Pedro Pires have so far failed to convince Gbagbo to step down despite ECOWAS brandishing the threat of military intervention to oust the strongman if mediation fails.
Tensions have risen steadily in the deadly stand-off since Gbagbo and Ouattara both claimed victory in a November 28 presidential run-off vote that it was hoped would end a decade of crisis in Ivory Coast.
Gbagbo and Ouattara have fired off a series of deadlines at each other since then, with Ouattara's latest call for Gbagbo to quit expiring unheeded at midnight on New Year's Eve.