Abidjan Faces Fighting as Ivory Coast Capital Falls to Ouattara's Forces
Fighters loyal to Ivory Coast’s President-elect Alassane Ouattara moved south toward the West African nation’s main city, Abidjan, where residents braced for a possible last stand by rival Laurent Gbagbo.
The Republican Forces late yesterday seized Yamoussoukro, the political capital and the biggest of at least eight towns taken this week. They also captured the key cocoa-exporting port of San Pedro in the west and are about 90 kilometers (56 miles) north of Abidjan in the town of Adzope, according to Meite Sindou, spokesman for Ouattara’s prime minister, Guillaume Soro.
“There was barely any resistance from the security forces” in Yamoussoukro, Sindou said by phone. “They had already deserted the police stations when the Republican Forces arrived. Most of them joined our forces, those who refused fled to Abidjan.”
The advance of the militia to the south has added military force to the diplomatic and economic pressure on Gbagbo to relinquish the presidency to Ouattara, who is internationally recognized as the winner of a Nov. 28 election. Gbagbo, whose forces have put up little resistance, refuses to cede power, alleging voter fraud.
San Pedro fell “without fighting,” Sindou said by phone late yesterday. “Our troops have moved forward without any difficulties,” he said.
Ouattara’s militia also captured the western town of Gagnoa yesterday, Sindou said.
Rapid Advance
The advance has been “much more rapid than expected,” said Young-jin Choi, the head of the United Nations mission in the country, in an interview with CNN. The troops are within “striking distance” of Abidjan, he said.
Gbagbo’s spokesman, Ahoua Don Mello, didn’t answer calls made to his mobile phone yesterday. The incumbent president has called for a cease-fire and talks at the African Union as the rival forces move south.
At the same time, the enrolment of new troops who responded to a recruitment call last week by Gbagbo’s Youth Minister Charles Ble Goude began yesterday, according to the website of state-owned Radio Television Ivoirienne.
Ouattara rejected the call for talks after meeting on March 29 with leaders of four other opposition parties.
Tension is mounting in Abidjan, with at least five people shot dead in Adjame, a neighborhood that supports Ouattara, according to Parfait Yao, a witness who saw their bodies.
UN Vote
The UN Security Council voted 15-0 yesterday to freeze the foreign assets and bar travel by Gbagbo, his wife Simone and top aides Desire Tagro, Alcide Djedje and Pascal Affi N’Guessan.
The resolution also asked Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to send the report of a UN-mandated investigation of alleged human rights abuses to the council and “other relevant international organizations” such as the International Criminal Court.
The rapid advance of the Republican Forces raised hopes the four-month political crisis will soon be over. The country’s defaulted dollar-denominated bond rallied 7 percent to 42.688 cents on the dollar yesterday, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Cocoa for May delivery slumped to a 10-week low on hopes the impasse may ease and pave the way for a renewal of exports of the chocolate ingredient. The price dropped $70, or 2.3 percent, to $2,987 per metric ton by 5:20 p.m. in New York.
To contact the reporters on this story: Pauline Bax and Olivier Monnier in Abidjan via Accra at ebowers1@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Antony Sguazzin at asguazzin@bloomberg.net.
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