Heavy fighting erupts in Cote d’lvoire

recognised president Alassane Ouattara offered his rival Laurent Gbagbo a last chance to quit power peacefully.
In the strategic western town of Duekoue, gunfire rang out shortly before dawn as forces loyal to Ouattara clashed with those back-ing outgoing president Gbagbo for control of the region.
“We were attacked by a group of rebels. We were able to push them back. They attacked with heavy weapons, launch-rockets, but the situation is calm now,” said a pro-Gbagbo military source.
There was no word on casualties.
Fighters of the former rebel group New Forces (FN) allied with Ouattara have held the north of this former French colony since a 2002 civil war.
In recent weeks they have seized control of much of the west bordering Liberia in a push south into traditional Gbagbo strongholds. Their old frontline is some 40km north of Duekoue.
In Abijdan, religious leaders confirmed that an imam died outside a mosque after being hit by what is believed to be a stray bullet.
And a UN clinic in Abidjan received 18 people, including three women and a baby, who were wounded by a grenade thrown by unidentified individuals in Attecoube, which borders the central plateau district, a UN statement said.
As the political crisis deepened in the world’s top cocoa producer, the UN mission in Cote d’lvoire yesterday urged an immediate end to violence.
In a television address, Ouattara on Tuesday urged Gbagbo to relinquish power and end a bloody tug-of-war that has claimed some 400 lives since the disputed November poll, according to UN figures.
“It is time that he accepts the will of the Ivorian people and the Afri-can Union,” Ouattara said.
The African Union last week endorsed Ouattara’s election win, a move rejected by Gbagbo aides.
“He must understand that for him and those close to him it is his last chance to make a peaceful and honourable exit from the crisis,” Ouattara said, reaffirming his willingness to “form a government of national unity.”
Ouattara has offered to form a government which would include Gbagbo’s Popular Ivorian Front (FPI) but said he will not share power with the outgoing leader.
Meanwhile, an in-depth investigation by New York-based Human Rights Watch warned that organised violence by pro-Gbagbo forces may amount to “crimes against humanity”.
It said fighters backing Ouattara were also guilty of atrocities against civilians.
Ouattara has been running his government from Abidjan’s posh Golf Hotel where he has been holed up since late last year, under the protection of peacekeepers and his supporters and besieged by pro-Gbagbo troops. – AFP.