AFP - Ivorian President forces acknowledged by the international community Wednesday Alassane Ouattara have accentuated their pressure on the regime of outgoing President Laurent Gbagbo in taking the political capital Yamoussoukro, as tensions rose in Abidjan.
On the third day of the offensive, this highly symbolic victory comes four months after the beginning of a post-election crisis which has, according to UN figures, at least 460 people and displaced nearly a million people.
It is a major setback for incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo, whose regime is isolated diplomatically and economically strangled, and whose forces seem to fall back on the economic capital Abidjan, the heart of a power that has never been so threatened.
"Mr.Gbagbo has a few more hours to go, otherwise it will march on Abidjan. And it will be much more complicated for him, "warned France 24 Guillaume Soro, Prime Minister Ouattara.
In the metropolis of Abidjan, many residents have returned home hurriedly in the afternoon, reporters found the AFP. Shots were heard in several northern districts. The Plateau, where the presidential palace, the traffic was very limited.
Mr. Republican ForcesOuattara, composed mainly ex-rebels holding the north since 2002, continued their advance Wednesday and taking Soubré Yamoussoukro, 130 km north of San Pedro (south-west), the largest export port in the world cocoa .
They had already won important victories on Tuesday in entering Duekoue, Daloa (center-west) and Bondoukou (east), but also Abengourou (southeast), just 220 km from the economic capital Abidjan.
The Ambassador of Cote d'Ivoire in France named by Alassane Ouattara, Ally Coulibaly, assured that his forces controlled camp "three quarters" of the country.
Yamoussoukro, the birthplace of the "Father of the Nation" Felix Houphouet-Boigny (1960-93) became the political capital of the world's leading exporter of cocoa, has fallen into the hands of fighters pro-Ouattara, virtually without a fight, only a few shots with Kalashnikov were heard, residents said.
"Yamoussoukro is under control of Republican Forces, the jubilant crowd cheering, they parade in town," said a resident of the capital.
On board the pick-ups with machine guns or motorcycles, they roam the city by launching shouting, witnesses said.
According to several testimonies, the pro-Ouattara continued their way south, leaving a small detachment in the political capital.
A resident of Toumodi (50 km south of Yamoussoukro) ensured to have heard gunfire in the afternoon in this village, located about 200 km from Abidjan.
On the eastern front, the forces are advancing rapidly pro-Ouattara, without meeting strong resistance, approaching a little closer to Abidjan, where new recruits began Wednesday to enlist in the army of the president.
On the western front, they are now the cocoa port of San Pedro.
More than 400,000 tons of cocoa are blocked from calling the camp Ouattara to stop exports. This measure has been further strengthened by Western sanctions.Ouattara government warned Wednesday, "an exporter" of cocoa "collaborate" with the president.
Gbagbo's camp had called Tuesday night to a "cease-fire immediately," declaring himself ready for negotiations with the rival camp under the auspices of the African Union in Addis Ababa in early April.
But Anne Ouloto, spokesman for Mr. Ouattara, responded by asking supporters of Mr Gbagbo to "disarm," saying that the call for a cease-fire was a "diversion".
Pope Benedict XVI on his side announced its decision to send an envoy to Côte d'Ivoire to promote "reconciliation and peace" and called for "a process of constructive dialogue."
