There is a conflict going on in Africa at the moment. A brutal dictator clinging on to power in the face of universal international condemnation, using the military unlawfully to brutally suppress civilian opposition.

This description of the Libyan crisis will be familiar to all who read a newspaper of watch the TV news. But this is not Libya, this is Cote d'Ivoire in West Africa where president Laurent Gbagbo lost what was deemed by international observers a fair result in November last year. Unfortunately for the voters Gbagbo isn't for giving up his power over something as trivial as losing an election.

The UN Security Council has adopted a common resolution recognising Alassane Ouattara as winner of the elections, this is based on observations by the Economic Community of West Africa States. ECOWAS suspended Côte d'Ivoire and the African Union sent Thabo Mbeki, former President of South Africa, to mediate so far without success.

However it would seem that western governments' PR machines are less keen to tell this story of the suffering innocents Gbagbo has slaughtered over the past months.

Two reasons really. The obvious one is oil with Gaddafi out the way Libya's oil fields will be open to exploitation by western conglomerates, these conglomerates somehow don't have the same appetite for Cote d'Ivoire's meagre cocoa output. The second is immigration. If Libya becomes a failed state ravaged by civil war, it will be an open door to Europe's southern border for tens of thousands of illegal immigrants. Not just for those fleeing the fighting but for those from sub Saharan Africa that will be able to cross its borders unhindered. This is Italy, France and to a lesser extent Spain's great fear and why they were so quick to take military action to try and stabilise the situation.

David Cameron's argument for intervention in Libya and not else where in Africa is spurious. Just because it is impossible to intervene in all situations shouldn't preclude action where and when practical to save lives.

All very noble, it just so happens that these Libyan lives being saved are being lived on top of millions of barrels of oil and those living in Cote d'Ivoire aren't.