The muscular efforts by the Ivory Coast strongman Laurent Gbagbo to remain in office after losing an election appeared to be intensifying this week, with assaults by his troops on a neighbourhood of Abidjan, the country's commercial capital, and deaths among soldiers and civilians in several other districts of the city.
On February 23, the Abobo neighbourhood, which supports Mr. Gbagbo's rival, came under renewed attack by Mr. Gbagbo's forces, according to residents reached by telephone and news agency reports. One resident said that Mr. Gbagbo's tanks had arrived in mid-afternoon and that the area was under sustained assault by rocket launchers.
“It's not the Kalashnikovs anymore,” said the resident, Ahmed Fofana, referring to the assault rifles favoured by Mr. Gbagbo's forces. “It's rocket launchers. We can't go out anymore, it's too dangerous.” Mr. Fofana said civilians had died and several houses had been destroyed.
Economy is collapsing
The violence reflected a deteriorating situation in what was once West Africa's commercial hub, as well as a possible prelude to a civil war that had been feared since the November presidential election, when Mr. Gbagbo's rival, Alassane Ouattara, was recognised as the winner by the international community. The initial tough line taken by African nations against Mr. Gbagbo's effort to hold on to power has weakened, with a number of influential nations, including South Africa and Angola, edging away from the regional position that he must go. Ivory Coast was seen as a test case in the continental commitment to enforcing democracy.
Meanwhile, Ivory Coast's economy is collapsing under the weight of international sanctions. Major banks in Abidjan, a normally bustling seaport of around four million people, have closed in the past two weeks, and the incumbent's diplomatic isolation outside Africa is almost total. There was renewed talk on February 23 by a former mediator in the crisis, Prime Minister Raila Odinga of Kenya, of a possible operation to remove Mr. Gbagbo by force.
The violence came after several days of clashes in Abobo and two other neighbourhoods. On February 22, several of Mr. Gbagbo's forces were killed in an ambush in Abobo, according to various reports. The number was difficult to verify; a Gbagbo spokesman, Alain Toussaint, said by phone that three soldiers died in the attack and that seven “terrorists” were “neutralised,” while local newspapers and news agency reports said 10 members of Mr. Gbagbo's armed forces were killed.
On February 21, 12 civilians in the Koumassi and Treichville neighbourhoods were killed by forces loyal to Mr. Gbagbo, according to a statement released by Mr. Ouattara.
The deaths came as the latest of numerous resolution efforts by African leaders ended: the Presidents of Chad, Mauritania, South Africa and Tanzania were leaving Abidjan to the sound of gunfire after meeting with Mr. Gbagbo and Mr. Ouattara on February 21-22. A fifth leader named as a mediator by the African Union, President Blaise Compaoré of Burkina Faso, was blocked from going to Abidjan following hostile demonstrations against him by the Young Patriots, a violent youth militia loyal to Mr. Gbagbo.
Mr. Gbagbo has maintained power by continuing to pay the salaries of soldiers and key civil servants. But it is unclear how much longer he can do so. His access to the country's accounts at the regional central bank has been curtailed since mid-January.
Mr. Gbagbo subsequently announced that he would “take control” of the local operations of some of the banks that had been shut. What that might mean in practice is unclear, since accounts are generally controlled electronically from outside the country.— © New York Times News Service
