— Surrounded by troops backing Ivory Coast’s democratically elected leader, strongman Laurent Gbagbo huddled in a bunker with his family Tuesday and tried to negotiate terms of surrender directly with his political rival, officials and diplomats said.
France’s foreign minister said Gbagbo would be required to relinquish power in writing after a decade as president, and must formally recognize his rival Alassane Ouattara, the internationally backed winner of the November election that plunged the West African nation into chaos.
Gbagbo was talking about the terms for his departure directly to Ouattara, according to a diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.
Forces loyal to Ouattara on Tuesday seized the presidential residence where Gbagbo tried to wrest last-ditch concessions, said a senior diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. Ouattara has urged his supporters to take Gbagbo alive.
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe told a parliamentary commission that military chiefs in the former French colony also have given orders for a cease-fire.
United Nations and French forces opened fire with attack helicopters on Gbagbo’s arms stockpiles and bases on Monday after four months of political deadlock in the former French colony in West Africa. Columns of foot soldiers allied with Ouattara also finally pierced the city limits of Abidjan.
“One might think that we are getting to the end of the crisis,” Hamadoun Toure, spokesman for the U.N. mission to Ivory Coast said by phone. “We spoke to his close aides, some had already defected, some are ready to stop fighting. He is alone now, he is in his bunker with a handful of supporters and family members. So is he going to last or not? I don’t know.”
Toure said that the U.N. had received phone calls Tuesday from the three main Gbagbo-allied generals, saying they were planning to order their troops to stop fighting. “They asked us to accept arms and ammunition from the troops and to provide them protection,” he said.
The offensive that began Monday included air attacks on the presidential residence and three strategic military garrisons, marking an unprecedented escalation in the international community’s efforts to oust Gbagbo, as pro-Ouattara fighters pushed their way to the heart of the city to reach Gbagbo’s home.
President Barack Obama said Tuesday he welcomed the role of the U.N. and French forces in Ivory Coast, also known by its French name Cote d’Ivoire. “To end this violence and prevent more bloodshed, former President Gbagbo must stand down immediately, and direct those who are fighting on his behalf to lay down their arms,” Obama said in a statement. “Every day that the fighting persists will bring more suffering, and further delay the future of peace and prosperity that the people of Cote d’Ivoire deserve.”
Gbagbo refused to cede power to Ouattara even as the world’s largest cocoa producer teetered on the brink of all-out civil war as the political crisis drew out, with both men claiming the presidency. Ouattara has tried to rule from a lagoonside hotel, while Gbagbo has stubbornly refused every olive branch extended to him.
On Tuesday, the African Union’s Peace and Security Council again urged Gbagbo to cede power immediately to Ouattara “in order to curtail the suffering of the Ivorian people.”
Associated Press writers Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations; Michelle Faul in Accra, Ghana; and Jenny Barchfield and Angela Charlton in Paris contributed to this report.
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