Heavy weapons fire rang out in central Abidjan on Thursday after Alassane Ouattara's forces marched to the gates of Ivory Coast's main city, and his camp said incumbent Laurent Gbagbo had just hours left in power. Residents reported heavy fighting near the state broadcaster, RTI, as well as in neighbourhoods in the south of the city after pro-Ouattara forces swiftly advanced on the lagoon-side city from several directions.
Gbagbo's elite forces took positions around the presidential palace while French soldiers were also deployed in the city to protect foreign residents, and a United Nations helicopter gunship flew overhead. Gbagbo has refused to step down after a November election that UN-certified results showed he lost, triggering a bloody standoff that has killed hundreds and rekindled the country's 2002-3 civil war.
"I call on you to serve your country ... It is time to join your brothers in the Republican Forces," Ouattara said in a statement aimed at encouraging members of the security forces still loyal to Gbagbo to defect. South Africa's government said that Gbagbo's army chief of staff, General Phillippe Mangou, had sought refuge at its ambassador's residence in Abidjan, in one of the biggest blows yet to Gbagbo's grip on power.
Security sources said some members of the gendarmerie had joined Ouattara's camp but others remained loyal to Gbagbo. Ouattara's prime minister, Guillaume Soro, said Gbagbo had only two or three hours left in power and the "game is over". In a dramatic four-day sweep, pro-Ouattara forces reached Abidjan after taking the key cocoa port of San Pedro and the official capital Yamoussoukro after advancing over hundreds of kilometres since the start of the week.
Cocoa prices have tumbled since the push began. The capture of San Pedro, which ships half of the top grower's beans, could, in theory, mean a resumption in exports that have been virtually frozen by the crisis since late January. Diplomats said on Thursday that European Union sanctions, including an embargo on cocoa shipments from San Pedro, would remain in place and any change would take days.
"There is heavy shooting next to RTI at the moment," said Justin Bohou, who lives in the Cocody neighbourhood. Reuters witnesses said heavy weapons fire also came from Treichville and Marcory, south of the centre of town, where pro-Gbagbo's forces had taken up positions.
French troops stationed in the former French colony patrolled parts of Abidjan, after what one diplomatic source said were attacks on French nationals by pro-Gbagbo mobs. Gbagbo has resisted pressure from the African Union and the West to step down since the November poll, and has been the target of sanctions by the US, the EU, and the UN Pro-Ouattara forces pushed down towards Abidjan from the north-west and the north-east, so far meeting little resistance as Gbagbo's regular army either withdraws or switches sides.
But, should Gbagbo decide to put up a fight, Ouattara's forces risk becoming bogged down in bloody urban warfare in Abidjan, where pro-Gbagbo forces have retreated and his youth supporters have sought to join the army. The UN reiterated calls for Gbagbo to step down and Washington called on all sides to exercise restraint.
At least 472 people have been confirmed killed since the standoff began, according to the UN, and a humanitarian crisis is worsening, with a million people displaced from Abidjan. But the real figure is likely to be much higher. "Casualty numbers, killed and injured, is running into the thousands. That is our indication," Pierre Kraehenbuehl, the International Committee of the Red Cross director of operations, told a news conference in Geneva. Ivorian state media have said the rebels are foreigners from neighbouring West African states, prompting many killings.
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