ABIDJAN – Ivory Coast strongman Laurent Gbagbo hunkered down in a bunker at his home Tuesday after being cornered by his arch rival’s followers, as his own forces silenced their weapons and asked for a ceasefire.
Having resisted calls to cede power to internationally recognised president Alassane Ouattara for four months, Gbagbo was now trying to strike a deal to quit, according to the former colonial power France. “We are today I hope on the brink of convincing Mr Gbagbo to leave power and let Alassane Ouattara exercise” power, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said.
As events repidly unfolded in the economic capital Abidjan, UN mission UNOCI said Gbagbo’s closest advisers, both military and civilian, had deserted him. “With a handful of persons, he is known to have retreated to the basement bunker of the presidential residence,” read a UNOCI statement. Fierce fighting has rocked Abidjan for two days since Ouattara’s fighters launched a “final assault” to remove Gbagbo while French and UN helicopters attacked his barracks and the palace to take out heavy weapons on Monday.
UNOCI received three separate telephone calls early Tuesday from leaders of pro-Gbagbo forces, saying orders were being given to stop fighting. One of them, Gbagbo’s army chief General Philippe Mangou, told AFP his troops had stopped fighting against rival Alassane Ouattara’s forces. “Following the bombardment by the French forces on some of our positions and certain strategic points in the city of Abidjan, we have ourselves stopped fighting and have asked the general commanding ONUCI (the UN force) for a ceasefire,” Mangou said.
This would allow for the “protection of the population, soldiers, the Republican Guard ensuring the president’s security, the president himself and his family, and members of government,” he added. The UN mission said its troops had been ordered to offer protection to members of Gbagbo’s army who have laid down their arms.
French Defence Minister Gerard Longuet said the crisis sparked by last November’s disputed presidential election could be over in hours. Earlier Ouattara-appointed ambassador to France, Ally Coulibaly told French radio RFI: “I believe Laurent Gbagbo is alive.”
