Ivory Coast Unrest

May 17, 2011 by Sea Beez

A plume of smoke rises over Abidjan, April 6, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Emmanuel Braun

By Tim Cocks and Ange Aboa

ABIDJAN | Wed Apr 6, 2011 3:06pm EDT

ABIDJAN (Reuters) – Forces loyal to Ivory Coast presidential claimant Alassane Ouattara launched a heavy attack on Wednesday on the bunker where Laurent Gbagbo is holed up but appeared to have been repelled, a Western military source said.

Fighting raged for a third consecutive day in the economic capital Abidjan as Ouattara’s forces tried to unseat Gbagbo, who has refused to cede power after losing a November election to Ouattara, according to U.N.-certified results.

The source, who lives near Gbagbo’s heavily guarded residence in Abidjan, said fighting had died down in the afternoon and Ouattara’s forces had regrouped.

“As I understand it, they tried to take Gbagbo’s residence this morning. The assault failed,” said the source, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“They could not break through the resistance from all the heavy weapons still hidden around Gbagbo’s residence. They pulled back to rethink and replan.”

A spokeswoman for Ouattara denied that his forces had retreated but could not provide any details about their offensive and could not say whether fighting continued.

Residents earlier reported gunfire from heavy weapons around the residence, which is defended by youth militias and Gbagbo’s presidential guard.

“The fighting is terrible here, the explosions are so heavy my building is shaking,” resident Alfred Kouassi told Reuters.

“We can hear automatic gunfire and also the thud of heavy weapons. There’s shooting all over the place. Cars are speeding in all directions and so are the fighters,” he said.

The French military said their troops were not involved in the attack, unlike earlier in the week when French and U.N. helicopter air strikes backed the rebels’ advance into Abidjan.

Fighting resumed early on Wednesday after negotiations led by the United Nations and France to secure Gbagbo’s departure failed, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said.

“The negotiations, which were carried out for hours yesterday between the entourage of Laurent Gbagbo and Ivorian authorities, have failed because of Gbagbo’s intransigence,” Juppe told parliament in Paris.

He earlier jad said Gbagbo had “no future” and that it was “absurd” for him to hang on.

The former colonial power in Ivory Coast, France, has taken a leading role in talks to persuade Gbagbo to hand over to Ouattara and end a four-month standoff over the contested election in November.

A U.N. spokesman in New York said negotiations with Gbagbo’s camp were continuing, but it was not clear if they would lead anywhere, especially as Gbagbo himself told French radio he had no intention of stepping down.

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