Fighting in Cote d'Ivoire Spreads

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, October 08, 2002

Fighting in Cote d'Ivoire Spreads

The fierce battles between the government troops and rebels in Cote d'Ivoire spread on Monday.

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The fierce battles between the government troops and rebels in Cote d'Ivoire spread on Monday.

As the government troops entering the center of rebel stronghold of Bouake retreated to the outskirts of the central city, the fighting resumed with mortar and rifle fire opening up in the southeast then spread to the southwest.

Local journalists told Xinhua that the loyalist troops withdrewafter penetrating the city's heart from two sides with mortar and machine gunfire, and now positioned themselves about three km fromthe entrance to the city.

Local radio quoted Defense Minister Moise Lida Kouassi as saying that the troops have already held some posts of the city and the reinforcements are on their way up to Bouake.

Lida Kouassi announced that loyalist forces would capture the entire city by Tuesday.

Meanwhile, local journalists said the rebels gained ground lateMonday by seizing another central town of Vavoua after engaging infierce battles with the government troops.

Vavoua is nearly 60 km north of Daloa, one of the cocoa industry's maincenters.

The government troops had advanced toward Bouake on Sunday and took up position in the eastern sector of Bouake.

The government forces launched a large-scale offensive in the city and other rebel strongholds on Sunday after west African mediators failed to make the government and the rebel soldiers sign a ceasefire deal.

A government statement said on Monday that President Laurent Gbagbo still remained open to dialogue with insurgents to end the bloody rebellion in the strife-torn country.

It said the president will do everything to facilitate negotiations and try to avoid resorting to force.

France early Monday urged the Cote d' Ivoire government to signa ceasefire, saying that there is no military solution to the crisis.

France said it was worried by the situation in Cote d'Ivoire after the collapse of west African mediation efforts on Sunday.

As Cote d'Ivoire's former colonial ruler, France has more than 1,000 troops stationing in the west African country.

The Sept. 19 uprising has plunged the world's largest cocoa-producing country into its worst crisis since its independence from France in 1960 and has claimed hundreds of lives and left thousands of people homeless.

Analysts said the outbreak of violent rebellion in the once-peaceful west African country has brought huge threat to economic revival and political integration on the African continent.

As sub-Saharan Africa's third largest economy, Cote d'Ivoire has long been considered an oasis of stability and prosperity in ablood-soaked and impoverished region.

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