Ivory Coast Massacre: Hundreds Killed, Gbagbo Residence Siezed

by NowPublic Staff | April 4, 2011 at 10:19 am

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Ivory Coast: Massacres as Alassane Ouattara- Laurent Gbagbo Loyalists Clash

Roughly 1,000 people have been killed in the western city of Duekoue. The Red Cross discovered hundreds of bodies, killed by gunshot and machete wounds. Allasane Ouattara's supporters blame Laurent Gbagbo; Gbagbo supporters blame Ouattara.

[Update: forces loyal to Allasane Ouattara have apparently taken over Laurent Gbagbo's Abidjan residence. It's not clear in Gbagbo was there at the time.]

Alassane Ouattara, the UN-recognized President of Ivory Coast, has begun a new push into Abidjan, the administrative center of Côte d'Ivoire. Ouattara's forces have already taken the capital city of Yamoussoukro. Sitting President Laurent Gbagbo refuses to step down, which has led to what is effectively a renewal of Ivory Coast's long and bloody civil war.

The French army commandeered Abidjan Airport, in order to evacuate foreign citizens. Around 12,000 French nationalists still living in Ivory Coast; France is urging them to gather at hotels or at the French embassy due to the threat of extended urban warfare. Foreign oil companies are suspending offshore operations.

The French embassy Sunday night was attacked by “patriotic youth,” according to Radio France International. And in Paris, Gbagbo envoy Toussaint Alain Toussaint Alain declared, "It is the French Army, which has put itself in the service of the rebellion … the French Army has become an auxiliary force of the rebellion.”

Both Allasane Ouattara and Laurent Gbagbo are holed up in Abidjan; Gbagbo's support seems to be eroding., but he shows no signs of giving up.