Ivory Coast rebels advance on capital
Ouattara envoy claims forces loyal to would-be president control two-thirds of war-torn country after Gbagbo loses more towns
Rebel forces in Ivory Coast say they are advancing towards the capital after seizing two more towns in the heart of the war-torn country.
Militias loyal to presidential claimant Alassane Ouattara have taken control of Sinfra and Bouafle , according to his defence spokesman, Captain Leon Alla. Both are west of the capital city, Yamoussoukro. Earlier this week the rebels took three towns further to the west.
Ally Coulibaly, Ouattara's ambassador to Paris, claimed that rebel forces now control three quarters of the country. He said the incumbent president, Laurent Gbagbo, had been given every chance to step down following his defeat in last November's election but Ivorians eventually had to take up arms to avoid a massacre of the civilian population.
A spokesman for Gbagbo called for a ceasefire and mediation but warned that the battle was far from over. Spokesman Don Mello told Radio France International: "We call for an immediate ceasefire and the opening of talks under the mediation of the African Union high representative. Failing which, we will use our legitimate right of defence.
"We have adopted a strategy of tactical withdrawal. We hope that dialogue will open very shortly. It is useless to head into conflict and increase the number of victims."
Over the past few days the rebels who have controlled northern Ivory Coast since the civil war of 2002-3 have advanced east toward the centre of the country. They have claimed to have seized two major cities, Duekoue and Daloa.
Roads from Daloa lead south to the port of San Pedro, which could be used to resupply! the reb els who do not have access to the sea, and east to Yamassoukro.
The capture of Yamassoukro would be symbolic but not decisive. Gbagbo's seat of power is in the commercial capital, Abidjan, where fighting has raged for months between rival factions.
Pro-Ouattara forces also made progress in the east, near the Ghana border. They took Bondoukou in the north-east before marching 200km (125 miles) south to, and through, Abengourou unopposed, residents said, leaving them 200km north-east of Abidjan.
The UN accused pro-Gbagbo forces of shooting dead up to 10 civilians in the Abidjan suburb of Abobo on Tuesday. Gbagbo's government spokesman dismissed the report and said Abidjan was "impregnable" to rebel attack.
Violence in Abidjan may escalate after Gbagbo's army spokesman called on his youths to join the fight. "The hour for their enrolment has arrived," Colonel Babri Gohourou told state TV. "They will be called up from Wednesday." Gbagbo's Young Patriots have targeted UN staff for weeks, beating them, burning UN vehicles and sometimes abducting them.
A Nigerien UN peacekeeper was seized by unknown attackers two weeks ago and remains missing, according to security sources. "We think one of our soldiers in the Nigerien contingent in Abidjan was kidnapped in the week from 12 to 19 March," a security source in Niamey, Niger's capital, told Reuters. "The UN is investigating."
The international community and Ivory Coast's electoral commission say Ouattara won the presidential election. But Gbagbo refuses to give up power.
More than one million people have fled the fighting that has ensued and at least 462 have been killed since the election, according to UN figures. Ouattara's camp puts the death toll above 700.
In the town of Doekoue, up to 30,000 people took refuge in a church compound to escape the fighting. A missionary told the BBC that many of those who had sought refuge at the mission were migrants from other West African countries who had been working in the s! urroundi ng cocoa plantations.
Sources said electricity in Duekoue has also been cut, apparently as a result of the fighting, depriving people in the area of water.
Amnesty International called on the UN mission in Ivory Coast, known as UNOCI, to take urgent action to protect civilians in Doekoue. Veronique Aubert, its Africa deputy director, said: "The UNOCI mandate in Ivory Coast requires the peacekeepers to protect civilians at imminent threat of physical violence. They must act immediately to prevent further bloodshed."
"Their camp is only about 3km from Doekoue and we're urging them to use all means necessary to protect civilians against the violence taking place on their own doorstep."
A UN spokesman added that "robust patrols" had been deployed to protect the church and those inside.
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