Ivory Coast’s defeated but defiant President was today holed up in a bunker, negotiating his surrender after an attack by United Nations and French forces wrecked his compound.
Laurent Gbagbo’s last stronghold was pounded by helicopter gunships last night and remains besieged by troops loyal to the president-elect, Alassane Ouattara.
“I’m not trying to be demagogical or to add to the disinformation, but according to the information that I have, he’s negotiating his surrender because he has realised the end is near. The game is up,” said Ali Coulibaly, Mr Ouattara’s Ambassador to France.
Mr Coulibaly’s assessment was confirmed by Alain Juppé, the French Foreign Minister, who said: “If there are possibilities to see him leave power then we are ready.”
The crisis could be resolved in a matter of hours, added Gerard Longuet, the Defence Minister.
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The UN, in a statement, said: “We are witnessing new developments on the political front in Abidjan. Mr Gbagbo’s closest advisers, both military and civilian, are leaving him while, with a handful of persons, he is known to have retreated to the basement bunker of the presidential residence.”
In Washington meanwhile President Obama called upon Mr Gbagbo to stand down.
“Tragically, the violence that we are seeing could have been averted had Laurent Gbagbo respected the results of last year’s presidential election,” he said. “Every day that the fighting persists will bring more suffering, and further delay the future of peace and prosperity that the people of Côte D’Ivoire deserve.”
The UN action came after 11 peacekeepers were shot in the battle for Abidjan. Mr Gbabgo’s military chief, General Philippe Mangou, has called for a ceasefire, but special forces troops are still fighting.
The UN called upon them “to lay down their arms with a view to preserving the life of the civilian population as well as their own life”.
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Mr Gbagbo lost the presidential election to Mr Ouattara in November but has refused to step down. Pro-Ouattara forces launched a military offensive last week which within three days had taken most of the country, but encountered pockets of fierce resistance in Abidjan.
Heavy weaponry within Mr Gbagbo’s compound was destroyed in last night’s attacks by UN Mi24 helicopters. State television headquarters, the elite republican guards’ base, a paramilitary base and an arms depot also came under fire.
“There is no point to firing at the presidential palace if there are no heavy weapons,” said Alain Le Roy, the UN peacekeeping commander. “But we are seeing the heavy weapons very close and that is what we are firing on.”
The Akouedo military base was bombarded to prevent pro-Gbagbo forces using heavy weapons against civilians, added Nick Birnback, spokesman for the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations.
France’s intervention in its former colony has infuriated the Gbagbo camp, which already blames Paris for supporting rebels in the north of its former colony in the 2002-03 civil war.
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President Sarkozy said he had authorised the use of France’s 1,600-strong force in the Ivory Coast after the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki Moon, said that the use of force was necessary to prevent further attacks on civilians.
France’s military involvement would last only as long as the UN needed it to, Paris said.
At least 1,500 people have died during the offensive and human rights organisations have warned both sides that they may be held accountable for their actions by the International Criminal Court.
A million more people have fled over the border to Liberia, and a further million are believed to have been displaced within Ivory Coast.