— Days into an offensive aimed at dislodging him from the presidential mansion, Ivory Coast’s strongman refused to budge Thursday from a bunker underneath his home, insisting he would never surrender despite the immense international pressure bearing down on him.
An adviser for the country’s democratically elected president Alassane Ouattara said their fighters had surrounded the property and planned to sit it out.
An armed group backing Ouattara stormed the gates of Laurent Gbagbo’s home on Wednesday, but are fearful of killing the entrenched leader and stoking the rage of his supporters. Some 46 percent of Ivorians voted for Gbagbo in the November election that unleashed political chaos.
