Opposition Forces Move on Ivory Coast Strongman
Legnan Koula/European Pressphoto Agency
Forces loyal to Alassane Ouattara, the internationally recognized winner of ivory Coast's presidential elections, prepared for an assault to dislodge Laurent Gbagbo from his bunker on Tuesday.
By ADAM NOSSITER and ALAN COWELL
Published: April 6, 2011
TAKORADI, Ghana — Opposition forces in Ivory Coast said Wednesday that they had begun an assault to dislodge the nation’s strongman, Laurent Gbagbo, from a bunker under his residence after he refused French and United Nations demands to leave.
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Detained supporters of strongman Laurent Gbagbo in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, on Wednesday.
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“The firing is very heavy,” Mr. Yapi said in a telephone interview, referring to the assault to dislodge Mr. Gbagbo.
Mr. Gbagbo has been holed up in his bunker for two days, and a cadre of loyal fighters have staked out a last defense to protect him. In an interview with French television, Mr. Gbagbo remained defiant even though opposing forces said they were advancing.
Asked if he was ready to leave, he said, “We’re not quite at that stage yet.”
“The army has called for an end to the fighting, especially from the French,” Mr. Gbagbo said. “Of course, that implies a general cease-fire. That’s what the army is talking about. After that, I want the politicians — the civilians — to take over and have talks about ending the crisis. Then you can ask me questions. Right now, I’m not negotiating.”
News reports, quoting Mr. Gbagbo’s representatives, said French forces had joined the assault, opening fire from helicopters and a nearby rooftop. The United Nations and France had attacked targets at his residence, his offices and two of his military bases on Monday, in what they called an effort to destroy his heavy weapons and protect the civilians who had been targeted by them.
But French officials denied that either French or United Nations forces were involved in attacks on the presidential residence on Wednesday.
“We’re not involved, and neither is Onuci,” said Bernard Valero, the French Foreign Ministry spokesman, referring to the United Nations Mission in Ivory Coast. “It is Ouattara’s guys.”
Mr. Gbagbo’s refusal to leave prompted increasing frustration among those who had been trying to negotiate his surrender.
Alain Juppé, the French foreign minister, told Parliament on Wednesday that “negotiations, which lasted for hours yesterday between Mr. Gbagbo’s entourage and Ivory Coast authorities, have failed because of Gbagbo’s intransigence. They have been interrupted and President Ouattara decided to ask his forces, the Republican Forces, to move on the offensive against their presidential enemy.”
Mr. Juppé added that France and the United Nations were not involved in the latest attacks.
Adm. Édouard Guillaud, the chief of staff of the French armed forces, said that he expected Mr. Gbagbo to surrender within hours. “He has no other choice,” Admiral Guillaud said.
The advancing forces dismissed Mr. Gbagbo’s desire for a cease-fire as stalling tactic, contending that he was “reorganizing himself to better organize his defense,” said Patrick Achi, a Ouattara spokesman. He added that instructions have been given to capture Mr. Gbagbo alive, but that he was being protected by “the ones that are ready to die for him, and they are the ones that are there, the most loyal.”
Mr. Gbagbo’s departure would end a four-month standoff that has underscored both the strengths and limits of international diplomacy. For months, Mr. Gbagbo has angrily defied global condemnation and hard-hitting sanctions as his nation spiraled back into the kind of conflict that the elections were intended to heal.
In the end, though, it has come down to force. The international stance, taken by African and Western countries alike, greatly weakened Mr. Gbagbo’s ability to govern. But his willingness even to discuss the terms of his exit came only after opposition forces swept across the country and France and the United Nations entered the fight, striking his redoubts and two of his bases.
On Tuesday, a day after the international attacks, Mr. Juppé told a Parliament hearing that French negotiators were helping to broker Mr. Gbagbo’s surrender, demanding that he sign a document formally recognizing Mr. Ouattara as the country’s legitimate president. The United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, had backed the French terms, Mr. Juppé said.
“What is going on are negotiations with Laurent Gbagbo and his family, to finalize the conditions of his departure,” he said at the time.
Diplomats said that Mr. Gbagbo appeared to believe that he still had a bargaining position, though his government and armed forces had collapsed around him.
“It’s over but he’s still trying to play games,” a senior Western diplomat in Abidjan said Tuesday night, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the negotiations were still under way. “The exact substance of what he’s trying to negotiate is foggy.”
Multimedia
Steven Erlanger Talks About France's Role in the Ivory Coast on The Takeaway Radio ProgramRelated
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The Lede Blog: 'I Am Not a Kamikaze,' Gbagbo Says From His Bunker (April 6, 2011)
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The Lede Blog: Endgame in Ivory Coast on YouTube (April 5, 2011)
Related in Opinion
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Op-Ed Contributor: From the Windows of Abidjan (April 6, 2011)
Readers' Comments
Share your thoughts.
Even if Mr. Gbagbo agreed to step down, officials for Mr. Ouattara said they would insist on his being prosecuted — either at home or abroad — for the extended campaign of armed repression he waged against opponents after the election.
“He will be prosecuted,” said Mr. Yapi, the spokesman for Mr. Ouattara. “He must be prosecuted. Do we keep him here, do we send him abroad, I don’t know,” he continued, adding: “He must answer for his actions.”
Mr. Ouattara’s forces have also been accused of taking part in extrajudicial killings, and last week hundreds of bodies were found in a town they controlled. The United Nations said fighters allied with Mr. Ouattara were responsible for hundreds of the deaths, a claim Mr. Ouattara denied. But if their involvement is demonstrated, it could undermine Mr. Ouattara’s status overseas, where he has largely been viewed as holding the higher moral ground in the standoff with Mr. Gbagbo.
It was also unclear whether Mr. Gbagbo’s supporters would accept Mr. Ouattara as president.
While President Obama said Tuesday that he strongly supported the United Nations and French strikes against Mr. Gbagbo’s military positions, saying they were part of a “mandate to protect civilians,” many Ivorians will see them as part of a Western plot to undermine the nation’s sovereignty, a theme Mr. Gbagbo has exploited to great effect over the crisis.
Throughout the crisis, international officials have warned both sides not to attack civilians, and international prosecutors have threatened to bring criminal charges, to little avail. United Nations officials have also threatened to run roadblocks and use robust force to protect civilians, but the military strikes this week stood out as a notable departure from their usual peacekeeping efforts.
Alain Le Roy, head of peacekeeping operations at the United Nations, described the use of airstrikes on Mr. Gbagbo’s forces this week as a necessity. “It was a heavy decision,” he said.
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