The Fighters trying to set up Ivory Coast’s democratically elected president descended Thursday on its largest city and seat of power, poised for a final push to unseat the entrenched ruler.
The forces backing Alassane Ouattara have infested nearly 80 percent of the country as soldiers fled and towns fell in quick succession. The regular army put up almost no battle during the four-day offensive, including in the ruler’s hometown, where fighters broke into Laurent Gbagbo’s amalgam and slept in his bed.
But they may face fierce confrontation on the peninsula where the presidential palace is located, surrounded on all sides by a natural moat Abidjan’s smooth lagoon.
Gunfire could be heard throughout the day, along with the concussive boom of heavy artillery. Reporters saw soldiers in conceal race across the waterside highway in pickup trucks mounted with machine guns.
The U.N. peacekeepers moved to secure the Abidjan airport by sending armed elements and additional personnel there, a U.N. international relations official in New York said. The official, who was not authorized to speak publicly, spoke on condition of anonymity.
As his forces combined on the outskirts of Abidjan, Ouattara made a final appeal to Gbagbo to step down, and called on the rest of the army to blemish.
As the columns of pro-Ouattara forces superior, the head of the army, Gen. Phillippe Mangou, sought protection at the home of the South African ambassador in Abidjan with his wife and five children, South Africa’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
By mid-afternoon, as many as 50,000 soldiers, police and gendarmes had abandoned Gbagbo, according to the head of the United Nations task, Choi Young-jin. “Only the Republican Guard and his special forces have remained loyal,” guarding the palace and dwelling, he told France-Info.
Ouattara was confirmed the winner of last November’s presidential election by the country’s election commission in results demonstrated by international observers. But after a decade in power, Gbagbo refused to agree to his loss. He has used the military to attack pro-Ouattara areas with heavy-artillery and is accused of arming citizen militias and recruiting foreign mercenaries to defend his grip on power.
Up to 1 million people have fled the fighting and at least 490 people have been killed given that the election, generally of them supporters of Ouattara. Gbagbo hasn’t been seen in public given that this week’s military distasteful began, even though state TV announced Wednesday that he was preparing to address the nation.
Those who know him well say even an armed offensive will not make Gbagbo cede authority. “He has no purpose of resigning,” said one of his advisers in Europe, Toussaint Alain. “He will not resign in the wake of this attack. He is not going to relinquish. He is not going to lay down his arms. He will stay in power to lead the resistance to this attack against Ivory Coast.”
However, a senior diplomat who has been in make contact with with members of Gbagbo’s inner circle said a standoff appeared to be building flanked by hard-liners who want Gbagbo to fight to the end, and others who are urging him to step down. The diplomat spoke on condition of ambiguity because he is not endorsed to speak to the media.
It is not apparent what the pro-Ouattara fighters will do if they manage to reach the presidential palace. Ouattara’s spokesman refused to conjecture, but said the use of force is required because Gbagbo has upset all attempts to find a diplomatic solution.
In the four months since the disputed election, the international community has constantly accessible Gbagbo a golden parachute, only to be rebuffed. He twice refused to take a phone call from President Barack Obama, who offered him a teaching location at a Boston university if he agreed to peacefully step aside.
During this time, Ouattara pleaded with world leaders asking for a military interference to oust the defiant leader. Although the United Nations accepted resolutions allowing their peacekeepers to intervene to protect civilians, pro-Ouattara neighbourhoods like Abobo and Anyama continued to be pummelled with mortars. So many people were killed the local morgue began stacking corpses on the floor because they had run out of space in the refrigerated vaults.
On Thursday, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reiterated his demand that Gbagbo straight away cede power to Ouattara “to enable the full evolution of state institutions to the legitimate authorities,” said spokesman Farhan Haq.
In Washington, the top American attaché for Africa, Johnnie Carson, said Gbagbo needed to seize this last opening to step aside.
“There is a clear suggestion that the military forces of Gbagbo have started to disintegrate,” he said. “The rapid pace at which Alassane Ouattara’s forces encompass was able to move across the country from east to west and up to Abidjan suggests that there have been widespread desertions in the Gbagbo forces.”
Ouattara’s fighters are mostly pinched from a rebel group based in the country’s north that launched a 2002 rebellion against Gbagbo. For over three months, Ouattara refused to allow them to march on Abidjan.
The advance was a last resort after all other diplomatic means had failed, say Ouattara’s supporters. Ouattara won the election with over 54 percent of the vote and did not want to be seen as having taken the country by force.
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