IVORY COAST: Armed pro-Gbagbo "young patriots" and soldiers loyal to incumbent Laurent Gbagbo patrol parts of Abidjan after fierce battles with forces loyal to Alassane Ouattara

Record ID: 181627

  • Title: IVORY COAST: Armed pro-Gbagbo "young patriots" and soldiers loyal to incumbent Laurent Gbagbo patrol parts of Abidjan after fierce battles with forces loyal to Alassane Ouattara
  • Date: 3rd April 2011
  • Summary: ARMED YOUNG PATRIOT WITH CAMOUFLAGE GEAR ON HIS HEAD, WATCHING TRAFFIC WITH PEOPLE WALKING WITH THEIR HANDS UP PICK-UP WITH GBAGBO ARMED FORCES MOVING ON STREET
  • Embargoed: 18th April 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Cote d'Ivoire
  • Country: Ivory Coast
  • Topics: War / Fighting,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAD1A6BRQKZKH2RI04TD8B4KADJ
  • Story Text: Ivory Coast's armed "young patriots" cheered pro-Gbago troops crossing a checkpoint in the Rivera district of Abidjan on Saturday (April 2) after fierce battles raged overnight at key locations of the city.
    Gunbattles and the sounds of heavy weapons fire rang out across Ivory Coast's main city Abidjan as the country's former rebels pressed an offensive to oust Gbagbo.
    Pro-Ouatarra fighters met with resistance from Gbagbo fighters around strategic locations like the Presidential Palace, the state broadcaster RTI, and key military bases.
    Residents said they heard loud explosions near the Agban base, the city's largest, in the Adjame neighbourhood near Cocody where Gbagbo has his official residence.
    In the Rivera neighbourhood on Saturday armed men members of the "young patriots," the youth wing of Gbagbo's camp patrolled parts of the city and organised checkpoints.
    Gbagbo, who has refused to quit after a Nov. 28 election that U.N.-certified results showed he lost, has been hit by a number of high-level defections in the military since pro-Ouattara forces marched on Abidjan, but his camp says he remains in Ivory Coast and will not surrender.
    "At the cost of our blood, we are going to die so that the republic survives, for our children, because this is an unjust war," said an armed young patriot, calling himself General La Poudriere or Minefield, in translation.
    A pro-Ouattara fighter injured in Saturday morning gunfight was left to die in tall grass on the side of the road.
    In a sign of how bloody the conflict has become, the International Committee of the Red Cross said on Saturday at least 800 people were killed in intercommunal violence in the western Ivorian town of Duekoue this week.
    A gunbattle also raged on into its third day for control of pro-Gbagbo state broadcaster RTI, which came back on air late on Friday, broadcasting pro-Gbagbo rallies and file footage of his swearing in ceremony.
    An RTI employee told Reuters on Saturday the broadcaster building had been retaken overnight by pro-Ouattara forces, but an official in Gbagbo's army denied it, saying it was firmly in the hands of the army.
    Forces supporting Ouattara, recognised as winner of the November election by African nations and Western powers, marched into Abidjan on Thursday (March 31) after a swift push south that initially met with little formal resistance.
    But they now face Gbagbo's most reliable fighters, the roughly 2,500-strong elite Republican Guard, clustered in Abidjan along with remaining regular army troops.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register