Gbagbo's Still Hoping.

Three days after his Presidential compound was surrounded by fighters supporting the elected President of Ivory Coast (Cote D'Ivorie), Alassane Ouattara the incumbent President, Laurent Gbagbo is still refusing to step down and hand over power. Hiding in a bunker beneath the building I can only assume that Gbagbo is still clinging on to the mistaken belief that he can somehow exploit divisions in the international community caused by the attack on Libya to hold on to power.

In the meantime French special forces have been forced to rescue the Japanese Ambassador and his aides after they were taken hostage by fighters loyal to Gbagbo. Israel has now formally requested that French troops move to protect Israeli Embassy staff as the security situation in the country continues to deteriorate.

The United Nations Commission for Human Rights (UNCHR) now say that they are investigating three specific incidents of civilian massacres. The first incident occurred in Duekoue in mid-March where 100 people, including women and children were raped, murdered and buried in a mass grave. The second incident also occurred in Duekoue on March 28th and is thought to be revenge for the first massacre. On this occasion 230 people were killed and dumped in a mass grave. The third incident took place in Blolequin but as there is still fighting going on in the area the specific date and the number of people killed is not yet known. In Abidjan at least 400 people have been killed in targeted artillery attacks on civilians by Gbagbo's forces and there are reports of people being burnt alive in the streets. This brings the total number of civilians killed in little over a week of fighting to nearly 2000.

Although Gbagbo is said to have only 1000 fighters left loyal to him including 200 guarding him in his compound this threat of tit for tat massacres leading to a widespread genocide is making it difficult to capture him. The fear is that if he is killed in an assault on his compound Gbagbo will become a martyr and his death will re-ignite Cote D'Ivorie's civil war.

Therefore the fighters surrounding the compound have been given strict orders to do everything possible not to kill him. However this might not be possible because if those fighters are forced to fight their way into the compound to capture him there is a high risk that Gbagbo will be killed in that fight. So it still seems that Gbagbo will be the one to decide his own fate and the fate of his country.