Ivory Coast rebels have seized a third town in the west of the African country, forces loyal to disputed incumbent Laurent Gbabgo said on Monday, adding that reinforcements were on the way to try and take it back. A post-election power struggle between Gbagbo and his rival Alassane Ouattara has sparked gun battles in the main city Abidjan and encouraged northern rebels now backing Ouattara to push south in the heaviest fighting since a 2002-2003 civil war.
"The rebels took Toulepleu yesterday (Sunday) after combat that lasted the whole day," Yao Yao, operations chief of Gbagbo's Front for the Liberation of the Great West (FLGO), said of rebels who last week took two smaller western towns. "There were not enough of us to contain them this time as we were hugely outnumbered," he said, adding the FLGO had retreated to await reinforcements and was preparing a counter-attack.
The United Nations fears the world's top cocoa grower could slip back into war, a prospect which has helped cocoa futures break 30-year highs. Supplies have already been strangled by a combination of sanctions, Ouattara's call for a temporary export ban, and the near-collapse of the local banking system. Industry regulatory data on Monday showed 475,345 tonnes, more than a third of annual output, of unexported cocoa beans were currently sitting at Ivorian ports. No death toll was available from Sunday's fighting. But residents in Liberian border villages told Reuters that wounded fighters were crossing over, seeking medical attention and that inhabitants were spilling into neighbouring towns.
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