Forces loyal to Ivory Coast presidential claimant Alassane Ouattara launched a heavy attack yesterday 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,” said Alfred Kouassi, who lives near Gbagbo’s residence in Abidjan.
“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.
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 were not involved.
The fighting resumed for a third day after negotiations led by the UN 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.
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 that UN-certified results say Ouattara won.
A spokeswoman for Ouattara’s forces said fighters were storming Gbagbo’s residence.
“They are in the process of entering the residence to seize Gbagbo,” Affousy Bamba said. “They have not taken him yet, but they are in the process.”
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