.- The security forces in Ivory Coast have launched an offensive to end the last militias and mercenaries loyal to former President Laurent Gbagbo, who remain entrenched in a neighborhood of Abidjan, officials said. After days of heavy fighting, Alassane Ouattara got coming to power last week, ending four months of post-election disputes.
But the crowded Yopougon neighborhood is full of pro-Gbagbo fighters who retired after an assault with French support and the UN concluded with the arrest of former leader. "The Republican forces have gone on the offensive," he told Reuters on Wednesday a government source Ouattara. "There are many mercenaries there.
We are robbing the people. We must restore order." There were no official statements from the Government, but a diplomat confirmed the operation and a member of the security forces that was involved said it was carrying out "cleaning." In the last weeks of the crisis, Gbagbo's side handed heavy weapons to young supporters in Abidjan, and is also accused of using mercenaries to resist the pressure to leave office.
Yopougon residents spoke of heavy fighting. "It's difficult. We are hearing loud explosions from yesterday," said Noel Deha Reuters by telephone. "There is fighting between the Republican forces and youth militias. They want to drive the militias," he added. The violence in this neighborhood west of the country's commercial capital comes as people in other areas cautiously returning to their daily lives, after weeks of fighting in the main producer of cocoa in the world.
Ouattara won the November presidential elections, but Gbagbo also claimed victory, sparking a power struggle that has damaged the economy. Patrick Achi, Ouattara government spokesman, said in charge of West Africa's central bank will visit Abidjan on Wednesday to see when it would resume operations, but it will be months before the Ivory Coast can remove between 450 thousand and 500 thousand tons of cocoa beans that is stored.
In addition, Ouattara has the enormous task of rebuilding the security forces and bring reconciliation to a country deeply divided by elections aimed precisely wound closure earlier. Over a thousand people have died in these months and millions have been driven from their homes. The French NGO Medecins Sans Frontieres said the situation in the west of the country is "terrible".
This is one area where differences between communities are deeper and there are reports of some of the worst massacres. "In western Ivory Coast, many people who fled the violence does not dare to go home," MSF said in a statement which details the conditions of life in a camp where about 28 thousand people living in the town of Duekoue. 
But the crowded Yopougon neighborhood is full of pro-Gbagbo fighters who retired after an assault with French support and the UN concluded with the arrest of former leader. "The Republican forces have gone on the offensive," he told Reuters on Wednesday a government source Ouattara. "There are many mercenaries there.
We are robbing the people. We must restore order." There were no official statements from the Government, but a diplomat confirmed the operation and a member of the security forces that was involved said it was carrying out "cleaning." In the last weeks of the crisis, Gbagbo's side handed heavy weapons to young supporters in Abidjan, and is also accused of using mercenaries to resist the pressure to leave office.
Yopougon residents spoke of heavy fighting. "It's difficult. We are hearing loud explosions from yesterday," said Noel Deha Reuters by telephone. "There is fighting between the Republican forces and youth militias. They want to drive the militias," he added. The violence in this neighborhood west of the country's commercial capital comes as people in other areas cautiously returning to their daily lives, after weeks of fighting in the main producer of cocoa in the world.
Ouattara won the November presidential elections, but Gbagbo also claimed victory, sparking a power struggle that has damaged the economy. Patrick Achi, Ouattara government spokesman, said in charge of West Africa's central bank will visit Abidjan on Wednesday to see when it would resume operations, but it will be months before the Ivory Coast can remove between 450 thousand and 500 thousand tons of cocoa beans that is stored.
In addition, Ouattara has the enormous task of rebuilding the security forces and bring reconciliation to a country deeply divided by elections aimed precisely wound closure earlier. Over a thousand people have died in these months and millions have been driven from their homes. The French NGO Medecins Sans Frontieres said the situation in the west of the country is "terrible".
This is one area where differences between communities are deeper and there are reports of some of the worst massacres. "In western Ivory Coast, many people who fled the violence does not dare to go home," MSF said in a statement which details the conditions of life in a camp where about 28 thousand people living in the town of Duekoue.
- Forces still involved in sporadic fighting with Gbagbo militiamen in Abidjan - BBC News (20/04/2011)
- Ouattara: Legal Proceedings Against Gbagbo (11/04/2011)
- Ouattara's forces told not to kill Gbagbo: spokesman (06/04/2011)
- Gbagbo moved to secure villa in Ivory Coast: Ouattara (13/04/2011)
- New Republic: Can Ouattara Save The Ivory Coast? (18/04/2011)
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