Ivory Coast Rebels Claim to Expand Advance

Source: The New York Times

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast — Rebels opposed to the strongman Laurent Gbagbo seized a town near the Liberian border on Sunday, a rebel spokesman said, in a further sign of Ivory Coast’s possible slide toward civil war.

A top commander of Gbagbo-allied forces in the west, near the border, declined to comment, but the head of a leading civil society organization in the region confirmed that the town of Toulépleu had fallen to the rebels, extending an advance in which they have taken several small towns on the Liberian frontier in the past 10 days.

Meanwhile, a weeklong campaign of looting and burning in Abidjan aimed at the homes of ministers allied with Mr. Gbagbo’s rival, Alassane Ouattara, continued Sunday, underscoring the growing lawlessness in this sprawling economic capital.

The standoff prevailing here since Mr. Ouattara won a presidential election in November, according to most of the international community, and Mr. Gbagbo refused to step aside has taken an increasingly violent turn.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/07/world/africa/07ivory-coast.html