Soldiers loyal to Alassane Ouattara line up at a republican forces operating base in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, on Friday. Ivory Coast’s democratically elected leader said his forces won’t capture the entrenched strongman who remained holed up Friday in an underground bunker at the presidential residence, and instead will focus on normalizing life in the besieged city.
Rebecca Blackwell / The Associated Press
ACCRA, Ghana — The crisis gripping Ivory Coast chipped away at the newfound authority of Alassane Ouattara, the man recognized internationally as its president, on Friday, as his rival’s forces regained territory in the main city, the French Embassy came under fresh attack and more than 100 bodies were discovered in areas controlled by Ouattara’s forces.
Ouattara had seemed to make headway in restoring a tentative sense of normalcy on Friday, announcing a campaign to restore electricity and water after a week of fighting in Abidjan, the economic capital seized by his forces in their push to oust the nation’s strongman, Laurent Gbagbo.
Residents ventured out for the first time in days as gunfire diminished. The European Union, heeding Ouattara’s appeals, agreed to lift the sanctions it had placed on the country’s two ports to suffocate Gbagbo’s rule.
And after days of trying to forcibly extract Gbagbo from his stronghold in the presidential residence, Ouattara shifted tactics, saying he would pin his rival inside and seal him off. It is the same strategy Gbagbo used after refusing to step down upon losing the presidential election in November: He blockaded Ouattara into a lagoonside hotel for months
Copyright, Blaise APLOGAN, 2010,© Bienvenu sur Babilown
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