Rebel Forces Siege Ivory Coast Capital
Ivory Coast is one step closer to civil war after troops loyal to Alassane Ouattara dismissed Laurent Gbagbo’s offer of a ceasefire and seized the political capital of Yamoussoukro. Richard Downie, deputy director of the Africa Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, says that a link can be drawn between Libya’s Gadhafi and Ivory Coast’s Laurent Gbagbo. Both leaders have lost the legitimacy of the international community, are ruthless in their attempts to maintain political office, and are willing to sacrifice the lives of their supporters and opponents as their nations fall into civil war. The BBC’s John James reports from Yamoussoukro, Ivory Coast.
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