Gbagbo ‘close to exit’ in Ivory Coast

• Gbagbo’s presidential palace in Abidjan is surrounded • Whereabouts of Gbagbo unknown • Fears of a humanitarian crisis 12.24pm: Dr Dominic Zaum, an expert on the UN from the school of politics and international relations at the University of Reading, has warned that the UN Airstrikes threaten to compromise the future role of the organisation in Ivory Coast: Despite the UN Secretary-General’s statements to the contrary, the timing and the nature of yesterday’s airstrikes by the UN mission in the Ivory Coast (UNOCI) against Laurent Gbagbo’s forces has made the UN party to the conflict. The use of force to protect civilians is undoubtedly covered by the UNOCI’s Chapter VII mandate. It might help to shorten the current fighting between the two factions, improving the security of the civilian population. However, siding with forces similarly suspected of brutal attacks against civilians raises questions about UNOCI’s impartiality and ability to provide security and build trust between the factions once the immediate conflict is over. 12.22pm: If you are new to events in the Ivory Coast the Canadian broadcaster CBC has a very clear article explaining the background to the crisis . 12.14pm: A Guardian video shows footage of the assault on Gbagbo’s forces . – 12.08pm: Gbagbo’s foreign minister Alcide Djedje has taken refuge at the French ambassador’s home , France 24 reports. Djedje has reportedly said that Gbagbo and his family are inside the presidential palace under attack. Djedje was one of those targeted by UN sanctions against the Gbagbo regime. 11.57am: The West African bloc Ecowas says it is ready to help ensure a “safe and dignified” exit for Gbagbo, Reuters reports. The 15-member group has urged Gbagbo to step down immediately. In a statement it said: The (Ecowas) commission urges Mr Gbagbo once again to consider the greater interest of the Ivorian nation, as well as the unacceptably high levels of human suffering, death and destruction, and cede power immediately. In this regard, the commission stands ready to ensure that the conditions prescribed (by the African Union Peace and Security Council), especially with regard to ensuring a safe and dignified exit for Mr Gbagbo, are fulfilled. Ecowas formally endorsed Ouattara as the winner of the election in an extraordinary summit on 7 December last year. It also suspended Ivory Coast from all its decision-making bodies. 11.49am: Connectionivoirienne.net is also reporting gunfire in Abidjan based on conversations with residents. They report loud shots from heavy armoury in the Plateau area, where the presidential palace is situated, but also in the south of the city where the 43e BIMA (French marines) and the international airport are situated. 11.43am: A resident of Abidjan has painted a grim picture of the situation in the city, in a phone call with France 24. The man, whose name was given only as Isaac, said: I hear gunfire, Kalashnikovs and heavy equipment that Gbagbo’s soldiers are using and also the UN and the French helicopters are firing now and Gbagbo’s soldiers are backing up. For the moment that’s what we see and that’s what we hear. Asked what it was like for residents, Isaac said: Very difficult. We are out of food. We also are trying to get help from people that still have a little [food] but it’s difficult for them even to cross the street because they are shooting from everywhere. Bullets are coming from every alleyway, you cannot step out. you can’t get food from anywhere. The only thing we have for the time being is coffee and some snacks. 11.31am: The United Nations Children’s Fund has also expressed concern about the humanitarian situation in the Ivory Coast. UNICEF executive director Anthony Lake has called on both sides in the conflict to halt the violence against civilians. He said: UNICEF continues to be gravely concerned by the ongoing violence in Cote d’Ivoire and its alarming impact on children. We are especially troubled by reports that children are among the victims of a mass killing there. And children continue to be recruited by armed forces on all sides of the conflict – a grave violation of their rights which jeopardizes not only their future but also the chances for achieving sustainable peace in Cote d’Ivoire. UNICEF is working to assist those in need with humanitarian supplies, but our programmes have been seriously compromised by the fighting. In the West, UNICEF has been able to reach out to the displaced population with basic supplies, but we urgently need to reach those at risk, especially in Abidjan, where an estimated one million displaced people are in dire need. We fear outbreaks of disease if we and other agencies cannot reach the thousands of internally displaced families. UNICEF joins its voice to the many others who have called upon all sides in this conflict to cease the violence against civilians and to permit humanitarian aid workers to reach those in greatest need. 11.23am: The International Organisation for Migration estimates that there are up 25,000 refugees fleeing violence in the Ivory Coast , amid evidence that Malians migrants have been attacked with guns and knives. In a briefing it said: IOM has received a desperate request for assistance from a group of some 3,000 Malian migrants, including many women and children, who have been living for the past ten days in the basement and the halls of the Malian Embassy in Abidjan. Many have sustained bullet and machete wounds from attacks carried out by armed youth militias loyal to the incumbent president Gbagbo. Without running water for the past 72 hours, they say they dare not walk to the nearby lagoon for fear of further violence. IOM’s director general William Lacy Swing said: We urge warring parties in Cote d’Ivoire not to target civilians and migrant workers and to ensure their protection and safety. We exhort them to give humanitarians full access to the population and allow the safe evacuation of all migrant workers who wish to return home. 11.18am: A pro-Gbagbo military source has told Reuters that Ouatarra’s forces have not taken over the presidential palace, as has been claimed. The source said: Despite the bombardments, we are holding all of our positions, meaning the palace, the residence and all of our military bases. But the international markets have moved in anticipation of a swift end to the conflict, according to Reuters. Cocoa prices moved lower as hopes rose of a resumption of exports from Ivory Coast and the country’s defaulted $2.3 billion Eurobond rose as the assault on Gbagbo’s palace raised expectations for repayment. 11.10am: @cartunelo on Twitter has been filing regular updates from Abidjan . He is tweeting in French but my colleague Alexandra Topping has translated some of his desperate sounding reports: SOS, Dead and seriously injured at Genie 2000 (road to Bingerville) since yesterday. Please bring help. At the Riviera, a pregnant woman in need of a caesarian needs to be evacuated call etc etc 10.50am: “It looks like this is the end [for Gbagbo] and the rebels are taking control,” says Daniel Balint-Kurti Africa expert and campaigner at Global Witness. Balint-Kurti, a former agency journalist in the Ivory Coast, wrote an analysis of the crisis for the Royal African Society . In an Audioboo interview today , he warned of the prospects for civil war. Ivory Coast is a very very divided society, if Ouattara takes power tomorrow those divisions are not going to disappear. The fighting where rebels went from controlling the northern half of the country to virtually the entire country, will have seen a number of abuses by rebel forces. I think there could be further details of atrocities. We will have to look at what comes out into this investigation into what happened in the western town of Duékoué . The two sides are to blame. The end of the story will not be when Ouattara takes power. Now that the UN and the French have attacked Gbagbo’s most strategic sites, his supporters can say look ‘it’s true, it’s proven this really was an international conspiracy’. So even if Gbagbo is captured that propaganda could continue and we could still see further revolts from areas that support Gbagbo. _ 10.40am: One of Ouattara ministers, Albert Mabri Toikeusse, has told France24 there is no sign of Gbagbo negotiating surrender, which contradicts the claim by Ouattara’s ambassador to Paris, Ali Coulibaly . 10.30am: A video posted on Facebook and circulating on Twitter claims to show civilian victims of the assault by the UN on Gbabgo’s forces. The video is very dark but appears to show corpses laid out on the ground. Several people on Twitter are claiming that the UN helicopters bombed houses. Whether that is true and whether the people in the video are in fact civilian victims of the UN airstrikes cannot be verified. 10.00am: Our France correspondent Kim Willsher says French newspapers report today that Ouattara’s forces took over the official residence of Gbagbo at 1am local time (2am BST) but there was no information on whether he was at home at the time. She also reports more from Ouattara’s ambassador in Paris, who claimed today that the incumbent president is in talks to give himself up. She says Ali Coulibaly told Le Parisien newspaper that those responsible for massacres “will be punished”. He said: Nobody can deny there have been massacres, but president Alassane Ouattara was the first to demand an international inquiry and the Ivoirien government has opened a legal inquiry because nobody knows the precise date or who committed them. But the massacres didn’t begin at Duékoué last Tuesday. Alas there were others before and elsewhere. For several weeks we have been alerting international bodies to the existance of mass graves in the west of the country and certain parts of Abidjan.There will be justice and those guilty will be punished. 9.45am: Selay Koussai, our correspondent in Abidjan, describes the “hectic” scenes in the city when the UN and France bombarded Gbagbo’s forces : We could see the fireballs and the smoke in the sky as UN helicopters and French helicopters started bombing the military barracks under the control of pro-Gbagbo forces. It was hectic. We have never witnessed things like this before. In the coming hours we will have a clear idea of the people injured in these bombings. People are saying many people have been injured. The TV station has been targeted, and RTI, which is the state run TV, is off-air today. He [Gbagbo] might be at the presidential palace or at the cathedral, because many people have been urged to form a human shield in the cathedral. The denouement is not so far away. We are witnessing the last hours of this show down between the pro-Gbagbo and pro-Ouattara forces. The area of Mr Gbagbo has been cornered off by the UN troops and the French forces. _ 9.36am: Here’s some more information on the claim by Ouattara’s ambassador to France that Gbagbo is negotiating his surrender. Ali Coulibaly told France Info: I’m not trying to be demagogical or to add to the disinformation, but according to the information that I have, he’s negotiating his surrender because he has realised the end is near. The game is up. Coulibaly did not provide any further details or say where he got the information. 9.32am: The crisis is trending on Twitter at #civ2010 and #civsocial , according to Global Voices . 9.21am: This YouTube video purportedly shows the assault by UN MI-24 helicopters on the Akouedo military camp last night. – 9.18am: Good morning. Welcome to live coverage of events in the Ivory Coast where forces loyal to Alassane Ouattara, widely recognised as the winner of last year’s election, have launched a “final offensive” on Abidjan, in a bid to oust the incumbent president Laurent Gbagbo. • Gbagbo’s presidential palace has been surrounded by troops loyal to Ouattara after UN helicopters attacked Gbagbo’s heavy weaponry . • A spokesman for Ouattara’s government told Reuters his troops had already taken control of Gbagbo’s official presidential residence , but his statement could not be independently verified. Patrick Achi said he did not know whether Gbagbo was there or not. • Ouattara’s ambassador to France, Ally Coulibaly, told French radio RFI he believes Laurent Gbagbo is “negotiating his surrender” , France24 reports . Ivory Coast Laurent Gbagbo Alassane Ouattara France United Nations Haroon Siddique Matthew Weaver guardian.co.uk

Posted by on April 5, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.