Cornered Gbagbo refuses to give up to Ouattara forces in Ivory Coast

Offer to surrender was 'playing for time' as ex-Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo remains holed up in presidential palace and denies being in talks for handover of power to presidential election winner Alassane Ouattara.

Soldiers loyal to Alassane Ouattara surround men captured during fighting and patrols in Abidjan yesterday.

ABIDJAN // Heavy arms fire rang out yesterday near the home of the Ivory Coast's strongman, who remained holed up in a subterranean bunker, as forces backing his rival assaulted the residence to try to force him out, diplomats and witnesses said.

A spokeswoman for the government of the country's democratically elected president, Alassane Ouattara, said on France-24 television that pro-Ouattara forces had entered the gates of Laurent Gbagbo's residence.

Affoussy Bamba said by telephone from Abidjan: "At the current moment they have not yet captured Gbagbo but it will happen soon. They opened the gates and noted that the residence is surrounded by heavy weaponry," she said. "Now the objective is to capture him."

Mr Gbagbo had appeared to be on the point of surrender on Tuesday, sending an emissary to meet foreign ambassadors in order to negotiate the terms of his resignation. But a senior diplomat said the overture appeared to be a foil, and that Mr Gbagbo was simply playing for time.

The French foreign minister, Alain Juppé said yesterday: "The conditions set by President Ouattara are rather clear. He is demanding that Laurent Gbagbo accept his defeat and recognise the victory of the legitimately elected president. That's where we are today, and alas, words have given way to weapons."

Neither UN nor French forces were involved in yesterday's fighting, he said.

Earlier in the day, French radio RFI broadcast an interview with Mr Gbagbo in which he said he had won last November's election and that there was no question of him leaving.

"We are not at the negotiating phase. And my departure from where? My departure to where?" he said.

Mr Gbagbo refused to accept defeat to Mr Ouattara in last year's election and took his country to the precipice of civil war in his bid to preserve power. His security forces are accused of using cannons, mortars and machine guns to mow down opponents in the four months since Mr Ouattara was declared the winner of the contested vote.

But analysts say Mr Ouattara is acutely aware that while he won last year's election with 54 per cent of the vote, Mr Gbagbo received 46 per cent, nearly half the electorate. A diplomat who speaks to Mr Ouattara frequently said that the leader is aware of the danger involved at this stage, because if Mr Gbagbo is killed it may galvanise his supporters.

In Europe, Mr Gbagbo's spokesman attempted to spin the attack on the residence by Mr Ouattara's forces as a foreign intervention. He claimed it was French forces that were storming the home of the former leader, a claim the French military vigorously denied.

United Nations attack helicopters helped by French troops bombarded the ruler's arsenal late on Monday, acting on a Security Council resolution authorising them to take out his heavy weapons because they had been used against the population. The international forces were involved in the ground attack yesterday on the residence, said diplomats and the French military spokesman, Thierry Burkhard.

Mr Gbagbo's Paris-based adviser, Toussaint Alain, said: "France will be held responsible for the death of President Gbagbo, his wife and family members and all those who are inside the residence, which is being bombarded by the French army." He claimed that "there is a real danger" that Mr Gbagbo and the others could be killed in the operation.

* Associated Press