Yesterday’s offensive, which included air attacks on the ruler’s home as well as three strategic military garrisons, marked an unprecedented escalation in the international community’s efforts to oust Gbagbo, who lost the presidential election in November yet has refused to cede power to Ouattara even as the world’s largest cocoa producer teetered on the brink of all-out civil war.
The postelection violence has left hundreds dead, most of them Ouattara supporters, and has forced up to 1 million people to flee. Ouattara has used his considerable international clout to financially and diplomatically suffocate Gbagbo before launching a dramatic military assault last week.
Yesterday, the UN fired on the Akouedo military base at around 5 p.m. to prevent Gbagbo’s forces from using heavy weapons against civilians, said Nick Birnback, a spokesman for the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations.
Explosions reverberated from the city’s downtown core a few blocks from the presidential palace and near the base of the Republican Guard, and those living nearby barricaded their windows with mattresses. Flames could be seen rising above the home of the staunchly pro-Gbagbo guard.
President Nicolas Sarkozy of France said he had authorized the 1,600-strong French Licorne force based here to help in the operation after an appeal from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who said that the use of force was necessary to prevent further attacks on civilians.
“In the past few days, forces loyal to Mr. Gbagbo have intensified and escalated their use of heavy weapons such as mortars, rocket-propelled grenades, and heavy machine guns against the civilian population in Abidjan,’’ Ban said in a statement.
Several French helicopters took part in the UN operations aimed at knocking Gbagbo’s heavy weapons.
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