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Africa Subsaharan
Gbagbo negotiating surrender
2011-04-06
Follow-up.
Ivory Coast's president, Laurent Gbagbo, has been holed up in a bunker with his family and a handful of supporters as army generals negotiated his surrender.

The former history professor turned politician, who refused to accept that he had lost last year's election, is facing an ignominious end to his 10-year rule after waging a desperate war to preserve it.

As he sheltered in the basement of his presidential palace surrounded by forces loyal to his rival, Alassane Ouattara, the UN said that it had received calls from Gbagbo's three top generals – the head of the armed forces, the head of the police and the head of the elite republican guard – offering to negotiate terms for surrender in return for guarantees of safety.

The negotiations came after a dramatic 24 hours in Ivory Coast. On Monday night, UN and French forces opened fire with attack helicopters on Gbagbo's arms stockpiles and bases. Earlier, columns of foot soldiers allied to Ouattara finally pierced the city limits of Abidjan.

Gbagbo's spokesman, Ahoua Don Mello, told Reuters there were "direct negotiations based on African Union (AU) recommendations which said Alassane Ouattara is president. They are also negotiating judicial and security conditions for Gbagbo's camp and his relatives."

Last night, Gbagbo told French television his commanders were negotiating for a ceasefire. He also criticised France for intervening in Ivory Coast. "I don't understand how an electoral dispute in Ivory Coast has brought about the direct intervention of the French army," he said.
Because they're French. And they don't like you.
"One might think that we are getting to the end of the crisis," Hamadoun Touré, spokesman for the UN mission in Ivory Coast, told the Associated Press. "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."

France, the former colonial power, said both it and the UN required Gbagbo to state in writing that he was giving up power before any agreement is reached. Alain Juppé, the French foreign minister, told parliament he agreed with the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, that "the departure of Gbagbo be preceded by the publication of a document with his signature in which he renounces power".
Posted by:Steve White

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