Laurent Gbagbo hunkered down in a bunker asking for a way out
ABIDJAN, April 5, 2011 (AFP) – Ivory Coast strongman Laurent Gbagbo hunkered down in a bunker at his home Tuesday after being cornered by his arch rival’s followers, as his own forces silenced their weapons and asked for a ceasefire. Having resisted calls to cede power to internationally recognised president Alassane Ouattara for four months, Gbagbo [...]
UN chief demands answers but Ouattara insists forces only targeted those who took up arms
UNITED NATIONS, April 3, 2011 (AFP) – UN chief Ban Ki-moon demanded that Ivory Coast’s internationally recognized president Alassane Ouattara take action against followers who took part in a massacre of about 800 people, a UN spokesman said Sunday. Ouattara denied to Ban in a telephone conversation late Saturday that his followers were involved in events [...]
Gbagbo goes bonkers and says French forces are preparing genocide in Ivory Coast
ABIDJAN, April 3, 2011 (AFP) – Ivory Coast’s state television, controlled by strongman Laurent Gbagbo, who is fighting off an offensive by supporters of rival Alassane Ouattara, broadcast virulently anti-French messages on Sunday. ”A Rwandan genocide is being prepared in Ivory Coast by Sarkozy’s men,” read a ticker running across the screen, referring to French President [...]
Hillary Clinton: Laurent Gbagbo must leave now so the conflict may end in Ivory Coast
ABIDJAN, April 3, 2011 (AFP) – The United States on Sunday renewed a call for Ivory Coast strongman Laurent Gbagbo to step aside as the struggle for control of Ivory Coast’s main city Abidjan entered a fourth day. ”The path forward is clear,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said early Sunday. Gbagbo “must leave now so [...]
Gbagbo’s residence under attack as rival forces push with final assault
ABIDJAN, April 2, 2011 (AFP) – Heavy artillery fire erupted Saturday in the Abidjan quarter housing the presidential palace as Ivory Coast strongman Laurent Gbagbo’s troops clashed with rival forces for control of the city, AFP journalists said. Mortar and other heavy arms fire broke out at 1215 (GMT and local time) after a relatively calm [...]
Laurent Gbagbo is in hiding as Ouattara’s forces hunt him down
PARIS, April 1, 2011 (AFP) – Laurent Gbagbo has no intention of quitting power in Ivory Coast despite being under attack by forces loyal to his rival which he brands a “coup d’etat”, his representative in Paris said Friday. ”President Laurent Gbagbo has no intention of abdicating or giving himself up to any rebel at all,” [...]
The battle rages on as Laurent Gbagbo’s residence is surrounded in Abidjan
ABIDJAN, April 1, 2011 (AFP) – Gunfire erupted around the home of under-siege Ivory Coast strongman Laurent Gbagbo and the presidential palace on Friday, Abidjan residents and AFP journalists reported. ”The shooting doesn’t stop. Gbagbo’s men are resisting in all their positions,” a resident of the nothern suburb of Cocody, where Gbagbo lives, told AFP. ”We are [...]
Obama and Cameron urged to seek UN resolution against Gbagbo
31 March 2011, London - Members of the African Diaspora, who have recently started a campaign calling for a UN resolution against Ivoirian president Laurent Gbagbo, have written this week to US president Barack Obama and UK prime minister David Cameron to urge them to support their campaign. The campaign, called ‘Go Gbagbo Go’, is led [...]
After bringing his country to the brink of war the curtain has now come down on Laurent Gbagbo
ABIDJAN, March 31, 2011 (AFP) – The curtain was fast coming down on Laurent Gbagbo late Thursday as his security forces melted away in the face of his rival’s seemingly unstoppable advance on Ivory Coast’s economic capital. The 65-year-old strongman’s reluctance to hand over power to internationally recognised election winner Alassane Ouattara brought his country to [...]
Alassane Ouattara – Ivory Coast’s President in waiting
ABIDJAN, March 31, 2011 (AFP) – Alassane Ouattara, who was closer than ever Thursday to fully assuming the Ivory Coast presidency after advances by his forces, is a former IMF economist who has long eyed his country’s top job. Among the hurdles thrown up by rivals fearful of his ambitions, including Laurent Gbagbo who has stubbornly [...]
