Ouattara forces attack Gbagbo bunker in Ivory Coast

(Reuters) - Forces loyal to Ivory Coast presidential claimant Alassane Ouattara launched a heavy attack on Wednesday on the bunker where Laurent Gbagbo was defying efforts to force him to cede power, residents said.

"The fighting is terrible here, the explosions are so heavy my building is shaking," Alfred Kouassi, who lives near Gbagbo's residence in the commercial capital Abidjan, told Reuters.

"We can hear automatic gunfire and also the thud of heavy weapons. There's shooting all over the place. Cars are speeding in all directions and so are the fighters," he said.

A plume of smoke rises over Abidjan, April 6, 2011.

He could see French tanks in the street but did not know whether they were taking part in the offensive. The French ambassador's residence is close to Gbagbo's.

The French military confirmed that fighting was under way around Gbagbo's residence, but said that French troops in the city were not involved.

The fighting resumed for a third day after negotiations led by the United Nations and France to secure Gbagbo's departure failed, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said.

"The negotiations which were carried out for hours yesterday between the entourage of Laurent Gbagbo and Ivorian authorities have failed because of Gbagbo's intransigence," Juppe told parliament in Paris.

He had earlier said Gbagbo had "no future" and that it was "absurd" for him to hang on.

The former colonial power in Ivory Coast, France has taken a leading role in talks to persuade Gbagbo to hand over to rival Ouattara and end a four-month standoff over a contested election in November which U.N.-certified results say Ouattara won.

A spokeswoman for Ouattara's forces said Ouattara's fighters were storming Gbagbo's residence, where Gbagbo has been holed up since Ouattara's forces swept into Abidjan backed by helicopter strikes by the United Nations and France.

"They are in the process of entering the residence to seize Gbagbo," Affousy Bamba told Reuters. "They have not taken him yet, but they are in the process."

CIVILIANS HUNT FOR FOOD, WATER

Residents however said militias close to Gbagbo and his presidential guard were putting up a stiff resistance, even as most soldiers from the regular army had heeded a call to lay down their arms.

Despite the fighting, desperate civilians in the north of the city ventured outside to hunt for water and food.

"We haven't slept, we haven't eaten, we've had nothing to drink. We are all going to die," said 17-year-old Mariam.

Gbagbo has ruled Ivory Coast since 2000. Negotiations to persuade him to quit stalled after he resisted international pressure to sign a document renouncing his claim to power.

"If Gbagbo has refused to sign the documents they (UN and France) presented to him yesterday, it is because they proposed something that had no legal and judicial basis," Gbagbo's spokesman Ahoua Don Mello told Reuters on Wednesday.

A defiant Gbagbo had earlier denied reports he was ready to surrender after a fierce assault by forces loyal to Ouattara, whose victory in November's presidential election Gbagbo has refused to accept.

"We are not at the negotiating stage. And my departure from where? To go where?" Gbagbo told French radio RFI on Wednesday.

Gbagbo had told French television channel LCI his army had only called for a ceasefire after its weaponry was destroyed by French and U.N. air strikes on Monday. He had suggested direct talks with Ouattara, an offer that was not accepted.

"I'm not a kamikaze. I love life. My voice is not the voice of a martyr, no, no, no, I'm not looking for death. It's not my aim to die," Gbagbo, told the channel by telephone.

"For peace to return to Ivory Coast, I and Ouattara, the two of us have to talk," he added.

Ouattara's forces were ordered not to kill Gbagbo.

"Alassane Ouattara has given formal instructions that Gbagbo is to be kept alive because we want to bring him to justice," Ouattara spokesman Patrick Achi told Reuters.

SURRENDER?

The French armed forces chief said Gbagbo could surrender within hours.

"Despite that (the failure of negotiations), I believe it is a matter of hours, possibly during the day," armed forces chief Edouard Guillaud told Europe 1 radio.

France's intervention in its former colony has infuriated Gbagbo, who blames Paris for supporting the north of the country in the civil war of 2002-03, and it comes at a tense time for French diplomacy after President Nicolas Sarkozy's spearheading of the West's military response to the crisis in Libya.

"We accuse France of seeking to assassinate president Gbagbo. President Sarkozy is organizing the assassination of President Gbagbo," Gbagbo's spokesman in Paris, Toussaint Alain, told Reuters.

Last year's long-delayed election in the world's top cocoa producing nation was meant to draw a line under the civil war, but Gbagbo's refusal to cede power has plunged the country into violence that has killed more than 1,500 people.

The International Criminal Court prosecutor said on Tuesday he was in talks with West African states about referring alleged atrocities in the Ivory Coast to the court after a reported massacre in the west of the country.

Cocoa prices were little changed on Wednesday as traders were confident that Gbagbo's expected exit would allow a swift resumption of exports. The country's defaulted $2.3 billion Eurobond rose to a four-month high on Wednesday on raised expectations of repayment.

The European Union on Wednesday imposed additional sanctions on the Gbagbo government, coverging bonds, securities and loans.

Source: Reuters

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Fighters surround Ivory Coast strongman in bunker

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (AP) — Surrounded by troops backing Ivory Coast's democratically elected leader, strongman Laurent Gbagbo huddled in a bunker at his home with his family Tuesday and tried to negotiate terms of surrender, officials said.

France's foreign minister said officials were demanding that Gbagbo renounce power in writing and formally recognize his rival Alassane Ouattara, the internationally backed winner of the November election that plunged the West African nation into chaos.

Soldiers loyal to Alassane Ouattara man a checkpoint at one of the principal entrances to Abidjan, Ivory Coast, Tuesday, April 5, 2011. Ivory Coast's entrenched strongman Laurent Gbagbo huddled in a bunker at his home and was exploring different options for his surrender, officials said Tuesday, as forces backing the country's democratically elected leader seized the residence.(AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Forces loyal to Ouattara on Tuesday seized the presidential residence where Gbagbo tried to wrest last-ditch concessions, said a senior diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. Ouattara has urged his supporters to take Gbagbo alive.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe told a parliamentary commission that military chiefs in the former French colony have given orders for a cease-fire.

United Nations and French forces opened fire with attack helicopters on Gbagbo's arms stockpiles and bases on Monday after four months of political deadlock in the former French colony in West Africa. Columns of foot soldiers allied with Ouattara also finally pierced the city limits of Abidjan.

"One might think that we are getting to the end of the crisis," Hamadoun Toure, spokesman for the U.N. mission to Ivory Coast said by phone. "We spoke to his close aides, some had already defected, some are ready to stop fighting. He is alone now, he is in his bunker with a handful of supporters and family members. So is he going to last or not? I don't know."

Toure said that the U.N. had received phone calls Tuesday from the three main Gbagbo-allied generals, saying they were planning to order their troops to stop fighting.

"They asked us to accept arms and ammunition from the troops and to provide them protection," he said.

French Defense Minister Gerard Longuet also told a Paris news conference Tuesday that he hoped the situation would be resolved within hours.

The offensive that began Monday included air attacks on the presidential residence and three strategic military garrisons, marking an unprecedented escalation in the international community's efforts to oust Gbagbo, as pro-Ouattara fighters pushed their way to the heart of the city to reach Gbagbo's home.

President Barack Obama said Tuesday he welcomed the role of the U.N. and French forces in Ivory Coast, also known by its French name Cote d'Ivoire.

"To end this violence and prevent more bloodshed, former President Gbagbo must stand down immediately, and direct those who are fighting on his behalf to lay down their arms," Obama said in a statement. "Every day that the fighting persists will bring more suffering, and further delay the future of peace and prosperity that the people of Cote d'Ivoire deserve."

Gbagbo refused to cede power to Ouattara even as the world's largest cocoa producer teetered on the brink of all-out civil war as the political crisis drew out, with both men claiming the presidency. Ouattara has tried to rule from a lagoonside hotel.

On Tuesday, the African Union's Peace and Security Council again urged Gbagbo to cede power immediately to Ouattara "in order to curtail the suffering of the Ivorian people."

The French foreign minister said negotiations with Gbagbo and his family were ongoing.

"His adviser, Alcide Djedje, who is presented as his foreign minister, has arrived at the French Embassy and he's in the process of discussions on conditions of Gbagbo's departure," Juppe said from France.

Even before the offensive, postelection violence had left hundreds dead — most of them Ouattara supporters — and forced up to 1 million people to flee their homes.

Ivory Coast gained independence from France in 1960, and some 20,000 French citizens still lived there when a brief civil war broke out in 2002. French troops were then tasked by the U.N. with monitoring a cease-fire and protecting foreign nationals in Ivory Coast, which was once an economic star and is still one of the only countries in the region with four-lane highways, skyscrapers, escalators and wine bars.

Following four months of attempts to negotiate Gbagbo's departure, the U.N. Security Council unanimously passed an especially strong resolution giving the 12,000-strong peacekeeping operation the right "to use all necessary means to carry out its mandate to protect civilians under imminent threat of physical violence ... including to prevent the use of heavy weapons against the civilian population."

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Ivory Coast fighters prepare to oust leader

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (AP) — The United Nations mission in Ivory Coast began moving some 200 employees out of the main city Sunday after repeated attacks on its headquarters, as fighters loyal to the internationally recognized president prepared for a battle to oust the incumbent leader.

Sporadic gunfire rang out in central Abidjan on Sunday, and residents for the most part kept in their homes. Residents of the commercial capital have been restricted to their homes since forces supporting internationally recognized president Alassane Ouattara began their assault of Abidjan on Thursday. Electricity has been cut intermittently and the water was shut off citywide Sunday morning, though a few women could be seen on the street filling basins with water from the lagoon.

"There is an in-country relocation of some 200 of our staff in order to ensure their safety in the currently challenging security environment. There are no plans to evacuate them from the country," said Nicholas Birnback, a spokesman for the U.N. Peacekeeping Department.

A U.N. employee said they were taken by helicopter from the U.N. base in downtown Abidjan to the airport. Another helicopter will take them from there to the northern city of Bouake.

The person asked not to be named because they are not authorized to speak to the press.

On Saturday, incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo called on his supporters to descend into the streets to form a human shield around the presidential palace. Boatloads of youth were ferried into the center of town and have been coursing the streets carrying rudimentary weapons such as two-by-fours and metal bars.

Ouattara's camp reports that the vast majority of the military has defected to his side, leaving only a small contingent of fighters to defend Gbagbo.

Thousands of pro-Ouattara troops amassed on the city's northern edge Sunday.

The U.N. reported that elite Republican Guard forces have repeatedly attacked its convoys and patrols. On Saturday, four peacekeepers were seriously injured after they were fired upon in the center of the city. The U.N. previously reported having returned fire on the Republican Guard and injured five of it soldiers. Pro-Gbagbo forces first attacked its headquarters on Thursday.

One U.N. employee was killed by a stray bullet last week.

The U.N. evacuation order is for all "essential employees." Nonessential employees were already evacuated several months ago. Some 10,000 U.N. military personnel remain in Ivory Coast.

Meanwhile, the Abidjan airport was taken over Saturday by French and U.N. soldiers, a French military spokesman said.

Several French cargo planes arrived Sunday morning with 300 soldiers to reinforce the mission, said Commander Frederic Daguillon of the French Force Licorne, which is now 1,500 strong.

French soldiers are in Ivory Coast under the same U.N. mandate as the U.N. peacekeeping force and its primary mission is the protection of civilians. More than 1,650 foreigners have sought refuge at the French base, half of whom are French, Daguillon said.

Ouattara was declared the winner of last November's presidential election by the country's election commission and numerous international observers. Gbagbo refused to recognized the results and has clung to power for four months, despite international financial sanctions. Forces allied with Ouattara launched a military offensive last week and advanced rapidly across the country, meeting almost no resistance.

They reached the edges of Abidjan last Thursday, but haven't been able to take key targets like the main army base, the state television station, the presidential residence or the presidential palace.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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