Fight for Abidjan Enters Fifth Day as Ivory Coast Food Supplies Run Short

[dkf]

The fight for Abidjan, the commercial capital of Ivory Coast, continued for a fifth day with few residents daring to go outdoors and food supplies in the city of four million beginning to run short.

Heavy gunfire and loud explosions were heard from the direction of the Plateau neighborhood near the presidential palace about 6 a.m. this morning. Gunfire was also heard in Cocody, where Gbagbo has a house, Agence France-Presse said, citing people it didn’t identify.

Forces loyal to President-elect Alassane Ouattara have captured much of the city since the start of their attack on March 31, while fighting continues around the presidential palace and at some army bases, residents said. The whereabouts of incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo are unknown.

“I haven’t been able to go out of my flat since Thursday,” Laurent Kone, a resident of the Blockhaus area, said by phone late yesterday. “I have almost nothing to eat at home anymore. I’m hungry. All the shops on my street are closed.”

A month ago, Ouattara’s militia, known as the Republican Forces, started to move south from their bases in the north of the country, the world’s biggest cocoa producer. They swept through much of the country in the past 10 days as Gbagbo’s troops offered little resistance.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-03/ouattara-urges-probe-into-ivory-coast-massacre-as-abidjan-clashes-continue.html

They must not have much oil...

[jwirr]

1. Is this fight between the rulers and citizens or is it a war between factions?

I do not know much about what is happening there other than another blood bath.

[dkf]

2. Looks like they had elections and the old regime doesn't want to vacate.