Intense fighting for presidential residence, state TV rages in Ivory Coast - Washington Post

Residents locked up in their homes reported barrages of heavy arms fire punctuated by detonations throughout the night. On the peninsula where the presidential palace is situated, building were shaking with each explosion, witnesses said.

Patrick Achi, a spokesman for the country’s internationally recognized leader Alassane Ouattara said the fighters had breached the city limit overnight and were waging battles at the palace and the residence. Achi said the forces, who are former rebels who fought in a civil war a decade ago that left Ivory Coast divided, had seized Radio Television Ivoirienne, or RTI, the government-owned broadcaster late Thursday.

About 10 p.m. the state TV signal was cut. Achi said that they were having technical difficulties transmitting their own images, but a senior diplomat said that fighting continued outside the station, and that it was unclear if Ouattara’s forces fully control it.

Gunfire was also ongoing around the presidential mansion, where former President Laurent Gbagbo may be holed up, although the defiant leader has not been seen in public since the offensive began five days ago.

“We don’t know where he is,” said the diplomat who asked not to be named because he is not authorized to speak to the press.

The chairperson of the commission of the African Union, Jean Ping, urged Gbagbo to immediately hand over power to Ouattara “in order to shorten the suffering of the Ivorians,” the AU said in a statement from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Gbagbo lost last November’s presidential election according to his country’s election commission and international observers, but has stubbornly refused to step down. Sanctions imposed on him and his inner circle have failed to dislodge him.

The armed offensive is the most severe threat that he has faced, and analysts say they expect Gbagbo’s regime to fall within days. “It’s over — except for the shooting,” said the diplomat.

A Swedish woman working for the United Nations was killed by a stray bullet during fighting in Abidjan on Thursday night, the Foreign Ministry in Stockholm confirmed. Some 500 foreigners sought refuge at a French military base, Col. Thierry Burkhard told The Associated Press.

Since the election, up to 1 million people have fled the fighting and at least 494 people have been killed, most of them Ouattara supporters.

After months of political deadlock, armed forces backing Ouattara launched a rapid offensive this week, overrunning nearly 80 percent of the country as soldiers fled and towns fell in quick succession. The regular army put up almost no resistance until the armed group reached Abidjan on Thursday, and what is expected to be the final battle began.

In the main point of entry in the city’s far north where a four-lane highway reaches the door of Abidjan, a resident said that he saw the column of pro-Ouattara fighters arrive early Friday morning.

He described dozens of transport trucks and 4-by-4s mounted with machine guns entering the suburb of Anyama, loaded down with uniformed fighters. The population of Anyama, one of the areas that voted in large numbers for Ouattara, lined the road to salute the force.

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