On Mon 04/11/11 11:44 AM , "P. Sylvie Yonke" africaninformation@yahoo.com sent:
French forces in southern Ivory Coast on Monday.
By ADAM NOSSITER
Published: April 11, 2011
ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast — The Ivory Coast strongman, Laurent Gbagbo, was captured on Monday after a week-long siege of his residence and placed under the control of his rival claimant to power, according to the French military and a senior American diplomat.
Both French ground forces and troops loyal to Alassane Ouattara, the internationally recognized winner of Ivory Coast's election last year, had pressed into the city toward the residence where Mr. Gbagbo has been holed up.Cmdr. Frederic Daguillon, a French military spokesman in Abidjan, Ivory Coast's main city, confirmed Mr. Gbagbo's capture but denied that the French military had seized him, saying Mr. Gbagbo had been taken solely by forces loyal to Mr. Ouattara."I can affirm that categorically," Commander Daguillon said. "There was not one single French soldier in the residence."In Paris, Laurent Teisseire, a spokesman for the French Defense Ministry, said" "Mr. Gbagbo surrendered to Mr. Outtara's forces." While French forces "patrolled" in Abidjan on Monday, he said, "they did not enter into the perimeter" of the Gbagbo residence and did not participate in his capture.For months, Mr. Gbagbo has refused to accept Mr. Ouattara's victory, insisting that he is still the legitimate president of this West African nation.A senior American diplomat, who spoke in return for anonymity because of the fluidity of the situation, said Mr. Gbagbo was being held at Mr. Ouattara's headquarters at the Golf du Hotel in Abidjan."My understanding is that he is at the Golf du Hotel and is under the control of the Ouattara government," the diplomat said. Mr. Teisseire, the ministry spokesman in Paris, also said that Mr. Gbagbo had been taken to the hotel.The capture came a day after French and United Nations helicopters fired missiles at key positions held by forces loyal to Mr. Gbagbo. As fighting resumed Monday, columns of black smoke rose over Abidjan, and French troops were reported to be advancing toward Mr. Gbagbo's residence.Witnesses quoted by Reuters said a column of about 30 French armored vehicles, accompanied by ground forces, was pushing forward from one of the city's main boulevards toward the residence, part of which had been destroyed by missiles fired from helicopters, according to one of Mr. Gbagbo's top aides.A French military spokesman in Abidjan said the aim of the operation on Monday was to avoid a "bloodbath," but declined to elaborate, Reuters reported. Thick smoke could be seen rising from the Cocody area of the city — Ivory Coast's commercial capital — where Mr. Gbagbo's residence is located.Accounts of the fighting on Monday seemed confused, with some reports suggesting that the French troops were moving on the presidential palace in a different area while forces loyal to Mr. Ouattara, had clashed with pro-Gbagbo forces near the residence. News reports spoke of helicopters again in action firing missiles and loud explosions reverberating around the city.The United Nations said the attacks on Sunday were part of its "neutralization" campaign against heavy weapons that Mr. Gbagbo had used against the civilian population. The presidential palace and Mr. Gbagbo's residence, where he has taken refuge, were targets on Sunday, a United Nations spokesman in Abidjan confirmed.The United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, suggested Sunday that Mr. Gbagbo's camp had fooled Western powers seeking his withdrawal by pretending to engage in surrender negotiations last week. "They in fact used that time to regroup their forces and redeploy heavy weapons," Mr. Ban said in a statement from New York.Mr. Gbagbo then used those weapons against civilians and the United Nations headquarters in Abidjan, as well as the Hotel du Golf, the headquarters of Mr. Ouattara, who heads Ivory Coast's "legitimate government," according to the statement.Indeed, Mr. Gbagbo appeared to be gaining ground militarily, recapturing several strategic neighborhoods in central Abidjan and even lobbing shells at the residence of the French ambassador, spokesmen in Paris and New York said.The attacks on Sunday, though, could be a setback for Mr. Gbagbo, who has refused to leave office since losing an election in November. Reached by telephone, Désiré Tagro, Mr. Gbagbo's chief of staff, sounded shaken and angry after the helicopter attacks, saying that Mr. Gbagbo had been in the bedroom of his residence when they occurred and that the residence had been partly destroyed, with smoke rising from it."This is planned murder," Mr. Tagro said. "The French are stronger than we are; there is nobody to say no to them. We don't have the military means to respond to the French."A resident of the downtown Plateau neighborhood who watched the attack from his window said that French Gazelle combat helicopters had fired at least five missiles at Mr. Gbagbo's residence, and two at the presidential palace. Two United Nations Mi-24 helicopters also fired missiles at the palace, he said, and afterward he watched as a French Puma helicopter flew low over the central lagoon separating the palace from the Hotel du Golf and fired its 20-millimeter gun at Mr. Gbagbo's positions on the heights of the Cocody neighborhood, where the residence is located.Mr. Gbagbo's renewed pugnacity, before Sunday's attack, appeared to make unlikely a quick resolution of the military confrontation between him and Mr. Ouattara that is ravaging Abidjan. A major strategic target, the state television station, was retaken last week by Mr. Gbagbo's forces — providing once again an outlet for the nonstop campaign against the French and the United Nations that Mr. Gbagbo has waged so successfully.Three days ago, after launching rocket-propelled grenades at the United Nations headquarters at the Sebroko Hotel, Mr. Gbagbo's armored personnel carriers, mounted with heavy machine guns, attacked civilians in the Adjamé and Attecoubé neighborhoods, which contain many Ouattara supporters, Mr. Ban said. Hundreds sought refuge at the United Nations headquarters.Then, on Saturday, Mr. Gbagbo's forces attacked the Hotel du Golf directly for the first time, "from several directions," Mr. Ban said in the statement. "These actions are unacceptable and cannot continue."Scott Sayare and Alan Cowell contributed reporting from Paris.Laurent Gbagbo
My African compatriots:After a lunch date with Ouattara and photographed shaking of hands, Gbagbo and his family should be flown out toute de vite to Haiti or to some French-speaking part of Canada.Yep...I am happy that he was not martyred.Bolaji Aluko_______________________________________________________________________________________BBC NEWS11 April 2011 Last updated at 09:49 ETIvory Coast: Gbagbo held after French troops move in
Mr Gbagbo had been refusing to cede power
Ivory Coast leader Laurent Gbagbo has been detained, after being snatched from his besieged residence in the country's main city, Abidjan.
News that he was being held was broken by a Gbagbo aide and confirmed by France's ambassador and forces loyal to his rival Alassane Ouattara.
French tanks earlier advanced on the presidential residence in Abidjan.
Mr Gbagbo has been refusing to cede power to Mr Ouattara after losing November's presidential election.
"Gbagbo has been arrested by French special forces in his residence and has been handed over to the rebel leaders," an aide to Mr Gbagbo, Toussaint Alain, told Reuters news agency from Paris.
There were conflicting accounts about how Mr Gbagbo had been captured, with France's ambassador saying he had been taken by troops loyal to Mr Ouattara.
A spokesman for Mr Ouattara told Reuters that Mr Gbagbo had been taken to the city's Golf Hotel, where Mr Ouattara himself has been staying.
UN peacekeepers have accused Gbabgo forces of endangering the civilian population, and had asked French troops in Ivory Coast to act against the defiant leader's heavy weapons.
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http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/04/11/ivory.coast.crisis/index.html?hpt=T1&iref=BN1
CNN News--Self-declared president arrested in Ivory Coast
By the CNN Wire StaffApril 11, 2011 9:53 a.m. EDTLaurent Gbagbo lost the presidential election in November, according to international observers, but refused to leave office.STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- NEW: Self-declared president arrested in Ivory Coast
- Forces loyal to Laurent Gbagbo and Alassane Ouattara fight for control of the main city
- The U.N. attacked Gbagbo positions earlier after they came under attack
- Gbagbo loyalists were endangering civilians, a U.N. official says
(CNN) -- The self-declared president of the Ivory Coast, Laurent Gbagbo, was arrested Monday, the French Embassy in that country said.
Security forces of the Ivory Coast arrested him, the embassy said.
A Gbagbo adviser, Ahoua Don Mello, said earlier that the French military had stormed Gbagbo's residence.
Gbagbo's refusal to cede power triggered a political crisis in the West African nation.
RELATED TOPICSForces loyal to the two men who claim to be president of Ivory Coast had clashed in the country's main city overnight, the United Nations and a local resident told CNN Monday.
U.N. forces are not planning strikes on Gbabgo's forces Monday but were prepared to hit his troops "if it's needed," said Hamadoun Toure, a spokesman for U.N. mission to the country.
The U.N. "was not involved" in the fighting between Gbagbo's troops and those of Alassane Ouattara overnight, Toure said.
Gbagbo lost a presidential election to Ouattara in November, according to international observers, but refused to leave office. The two sides have been battling for control of the main city, Abidjan, for weeks.
U.N. military helicopters pounded heavy weapons positions of fighters loyal to Gbagbo on Sunday, United Nations officials said.
The attack came after pro-Gbagbo forces shelled the hotel where Ouattara and the United Nations are headquartered, said Choi Young-jin, head of the U.N. mission in the country.
"So we decided we cannot pass this moment without action," Choi said.
Together with the French military, U.N. forces targeted key positions. Choi said there were "several camps" belonging to the Gbagbo loyalists. "We are taking them out."
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he ordered the military operation Sunday "to prevent the use of heavy weapons which threaten the civilian population of Abidjan and our peacekeepers."
The U.N. mission does not extend to extracting Gbagbo from his residence, Choi said. It would be up to pro-Ouattara forces to oust Gbagbo, he said.
Ban renewed his call for Gbagbo "to step aside immediately."
"Civilians are bearing the brunt of the violence," the secretary-general said. "The fighting must stop. Mr. Gbagbo needs to step aside immediately."
U.N. spokesman Toure said that Gbagbo loyalists continue to control three main areas -- the presidential palace, Gbagbo's residence and the state television station, RTI. He said the French military and U.N. forces are in charge of the Abidjan port.
Violence erupted after Ivory Coast's disputed presidential election in November and escalated into all-out war when Ouattara's forces launched an offensive that brought them into Abidjan.
As Gbagbo has refused to cede power, the political stalemate has plunged the cocoa-producing West African nation into crisis.
The U.N. human rights office said Friday that its investigators found more than 100 bodies over 24 hours in three Ivory Coast towns.
Ouattara's forces appeared to be on the verge of capturing Gbagbo last week, but he seems to have used an offer to negotiate as a way to buy time and gather his forces.
Mark Toner, acting deputy spokesman for the U.S. State Department, released a statement Saturday echoing that idea.
"It is clear that Gbagbo's attempts at negotiation this week were nothing more than a ruse to regroup and rearm. Gbagbo's continued attempt to force a result that he could not obtain at the ballot box reveals his callous disregard for the welfare of the Ivorian people, who will again suffer amid renewed heavy fighting in Abidjan," he said.
Most areas of the capital, however, are now under U.N. or French military control, journalist Seyi Rhodes reported from the French military base in Port Bouet. The French military has been working to reconnect the disrupted water and electricity supply in the country's main city.
CNN's Jack Maddox contributed to this report.
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