April 5 (Bloomberg) -- Forces loyal to Ivory Coast’s Laurent Gbagbo surrendered and the former president began to negotiate his exit from power with the United Nations, a day after French and UN forces bombed his last strongholds in the commercial capital, Abidjan.
Gbagbo was bunkered in a basement with his family and ready to surrender, Choi Young-jin, the head of the UN’s mission in the West African nation, said in an interview on Al Jazeera today. Earlier, troops backing rival Alassane Ouattara captured most of Abidjan.
“The war is over,” Alcide Djedje, Gbagbo’s foreign minister, told France24, adding that he was sent to the French Embassy in Abidjan to negotiate. “When the heavy artillery and the ammunitions depots have been destroyed, the security forces can’t continue to fight very long.”
Phillippe Mangou, the chief of staff of the army, Bruno Dogbo Ble, the head of Gbagbo’s Republican Guard, and General Thiape Kassarate Edouard, commander of the military policy, all told the UN today that they will stop fighting, UN spokesman Hamadoun Toure said.
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http://noir.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aXrcz4FUfa0w&pos=9FRANCE24: Gbagbo in negotiations to surrender, French foreign minister says
Ivory Coast incumbent Laurent Gbagbo was negotiating the terms of his departure from power Tuesday in the wake of an assault by forces loyal to presidential rival Alassane Ouattara and backed by UN and French helicopter airstrikes.
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http://www.france24.com/en/20110405-ivory-coast-presidential-palace-abidjan-heavy-fighting-ouattara-gbagbo