Disputed Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo was negotiating the terms of his departure at press time last night following a fierce assault by forces loyal to his rival, backed by UN and French helicopter airstrikes.
French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said two Ivorian generals were involved in negotiating the surrender of Gbagbo, who had clung to power since refusing to concede he lost last November’s presidential election to Alassane Ouattara.
“As we speak, we are speaking to two generals to negotiate President Gbagbo’s surrender,” Fillon told members of parliament in Paris.
A Gbagbo spokesman said the incumbent was negotiating the terms of his exit based on the recognition of Ouattara as president. The spokesman said the negotiations covered security guarantees for Gbagbo and his relatives.
Gbagbo’s forces earlier called for a ceasefire and French Defense Minister Gerard Longuet said the West African country’s crisis could be resolved in a matter of hours.
Forces loyal to presidential claimant Ouattara had launched a major assault on Gbagbo’s last strongholds in Abidjan, driving home their campaign to oust him.
An eyewitness said yesterday that calm had returned to the area surrounding the presidential palace after days of fierce machinegun and heavy weapons fire — a sign that the conflict could be nearing an end.
“We are in a situation where everything could be resolved in the next few hours,” Longuet told a news conference.
The UN peacekeeping force in Ivory Coast, supported by the French military, had targeted Gbagbo’s heavy weapons capabilities on Monday with attack helicopters after civilians were killed in shelling.
Attacks centered on military bases in the city, but also on rocket launchers “very close” to Gbagbo’s Cocody residence, UN peacekeeping chief Alain Le Roy said on Monday.
“It looks like Gbagbo is trying to negotiate his way out. What he can offer is another matter. He is in the process of being militarily defeated so his negotiating position is much weaker than a couple of weeks ago,” said Hannah Koep, Ivory Coast analyst at London-based consultancy Control Risks.
The conflict in the West African cocoa-growing nation pushed cocoa prices lower yesterday as dealers bet on a swift end to Gbagbo’s rule and a resumption of exports. The country’s defaulted US$2.3 billion Eurobond rose as the assault raised expectations for repayment.
In the north of Abidjan, -bullet-riddled bodies lay by the side of the main motorway near the largely pro-Gbagbo neighborhood of Yopougon, evidence of recent fighting between Ouattara and Gbagbo forces, a witness said.
An armored personnel carrier was pushed across the roadway, still in flames and residents who had emerged from their houses to find water said they had heard machinegun and heavy weapons fire through the night.
The UN human rights office in Geneva yesterday expressed concern over the killings of dozens of civilians in Abidjan, amid reports of heavy weapons used in populated areas.
Beijing’s continued provocations in the Taiwan Strait reveal its intention to unilaterally change the “status quo” in the area, the US Department of State said on Saturday, calling for a peaceful resolution to cross-strait issues. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) reported that four China Coast Guard patrol vessels entered restricted and prohibited waters near Kinmen County on Friday and again on Saturday. A State Department spokesperson said that Washington was aware of the incidents, and urged all parties to exercise restraint and refrain from unilaterally changing the “status quo.” “Maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is in line with our [the
EXTENDED RANGE: Hsiung Sheng missiles, 100 of which might be deployed by the end of the year, could reach Chinese command posts and airport runways, a source said A NT$16.9 billion (US$534.93 million) project to upgrade the military’s missile defense systems would be completed this year, allowing the deployment of at least 100 long-range Hsiung Sheng missiles and providing more deterrence against China, military sources said on Saturday. Hsiung Sheng missiles are an extended-range version of the Hsiung Feng IIE (HF-2E) surface-to-surface cruise missile, and are believed to have a range of up to 1,200km, which would allow them to hit targets well inside China. They went into mass production in 2022, the sources said. The project is part of a special budget for the Ministry of National Defense aimed at
READY TO WORK: Taiwan is eager to cooperate and is hopeful that like-minded states will continue to advocate for its inclusion in regional organizations, Lai said Maintaining the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait, and peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region must be a top priority, president-elect William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday after meeting with a delegation of US academics. Leaders of the G7, US President Joe Biden and other international heads of state have voiced concerns about the situation in the Strait, as stability in the region is necessary for a safe, peaceful and prosperous world, Lai said. The vice president, who is to be inaugurated in May, welcomed the delegation and thanked them for their support for Taiwan and issues concerning the Strait. The international community
COOPERATION: Two crewmembers from a Chinese fishing boat that sank off Kinmen were rescued, two were found dead and another two were still missing at press time The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) was yesterday working with Chinese rescuers to find two missing crewmembers from a Chinese fishing boat that sank southwest of Kinmen County yesterday, killing two crew. The joint operation managed to rescue two of the boat’s six crewmembers, but two were already dead when they were pulled from the water, the agency said in a statement. Rescuers are still searching for two others from the Min Long Yu 61222, a boat registered in China’s Fujian Province that capsized and sank 1.03 nautical miles (1.9km) southwest of Dongding Island (東碇), it added. CGA Director-General Chou Mei-wu (周美伍) told a