ABIDJAN – Up to 15 members of the security forces were killed in the latest gun battles between supporters of the rival claimants to the presidency of Ivory Coast, an Ivorian army source told Reuters on Wednesday. The source, a military commander, said paramilitary police loyal to the incumbent leader, Laurent Gbagbo, were ambushed on Tuesday evening by supporters of his rival Alassane Ouattara.
“We’re talking about 10 to 15 deaths, essentially gendarmes (paramilitary police) who were taken in an ambush yesterday at 1800 (GMT),” he said. There was no official statement from the security forces but the pro-Gbagbo Notre Voie newspaper reported that two officers and a number of soldiers had been killed. Ouattara won the country’s Nov. 28 election, according to U.N.-certified results, but Gbagbo has refused to hand over power.
More than 300 people have been killed since the poll and the standoff has paralysed the economy of Ivory Coast, the world’s biggest cocoa producer. A Reuters reporter said there was some sporadic shooting on Wednesday but the situation in the Abobo neighbourhood in Abidjan had quietened down. The area where Tuesday’s fighting took place was sealed off with a military roadblock.
Gunfire and explosions shook Abobo, where support for Ouattara is high, for most of Tuesday, as African presidents aiming to resolve the power struggle were visiting both camps to propose a solution. A Reuters reporter Wednesday saw a body lying in the streets, which were mostly deserted, except for fleeing civilians carrying luggage and possessions out of their homes. Gbagbo has defied international sanctions and pressure to stand down, and is backed by a military that has crushed dissent in a series of bloody crackdowns. His loyalists say
