REBELS IN Ivory Coast have seized a strategically important town in the fiercest fighting since the 2002-2003 civil war, causing panic among tens of thousands of refugees.
The New Forces movement now holds a 30-mile corridor along the western border, which it says is vital in cutting off incumbent president Laurent Gbagbo’s ability to recruit mercenaries from neighbouring Liberia.
As the conflict threatens to escalate, it has emerged that Mr Gbagbo’s rival, Alassane Ouattara, is ready to leave his base in Abidjan for the first time since becoming a virtual prisoner there when the crisis began three months ago.
A spokesman said Mr Ouattara, who has until now been boxed in by Mr Gbagbo’s forces at the Golf hotel, will travel to the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, for peace talks with an African Union panel on Thursday. Mr Gbagbo has been invited but it is unclear whether he will attend.
Mr Ouattara initially distanced himself from the northern-based New Forces, who had attempted to topple Mr Gbagbo in 2002-3003. He argued that he did not want to be seen as having taken the country by force when he had won the election fairly, according to Ivory Coast’s electoral body, the UN and the international community. But in recent weeks his administration has acknowledged the role of the rebels, who are also making inroads in the commercial capital of Abidjan.
A section of the city called PK-18 is fully under Mr Ouattara’s control and checkpoints there are being manned by young men who openly acknowledge being members of the New Forces.
The seizure of Toulepleu on Sunday extended the gains by the rebel army, which earlier had seized another town, Zouan-Hounien. Mr Ouattara’s defence spokesman, Leon Kouakou Alla, a former captain in Mr Gbagbo’s paramilitary police unit, said Toulepleu was strategically important because it was the base from which Liberian mercenaries were being recruited to fight for Mr Gbagbo.
Yao Yao, chief of Mr Gbagbo’s Front for the Liberation of the Great West (FLGO), acknowledged a defeat. He said: “The rebels took Toulepleu after combat that lasted the whole day. There were not enough of us to contain them this time as we were hugely outnumbered.” But the FLGO was preparing a counter-attack, he said.
Analysts fear a renewed civil war could spill into neighbouring countries. There are persistent reports that Mr Gbagbo has brought Liberian mercenaries to the capital. He has indicated he will cling to power whatever it takes. Nearly 400 people have been killed so far, most of them civilians who voted for Mr Ouattara.
Last week the army opened fire on a women’s march calling for Mr Gbagbo to step down. A gruesome video of the killings has been posted on the web. Oxfam has warned that the surge of refugees into Liberia has the makings of a humanitarian disaster unless the international community steps in.