"Gbagbo is Lying", says Ouattara Spokesman

NEWS of Laurent Gbagbo's likely surrender has been greeted with a sense of weary relief by citizens of La Cote d'Ivoire after a needless war spanning four months, which was sparked by Gbagbo's refusal to cede power to internationally recognised winner of the November 28 election, Alassane Ouattara.

Laurent Gbagbo yesterday morning indicated his desire to surrender and requested United Nations protection, a U.N. official said, adding that negotiations with Gbagbo's people in Abidjan were still underway.

However, when the New Statesman spoke to Ouattara's spokesman, Patrick Achi at 20:30hrs GMT yesterday, he insisted Gbagbo was still at his residence refusing to yield.

“He's lying. He asked his generals to negotiate a surrender in the morning then in the afternoon he changed his mind, saying he never said any such thing. It was just his strategy to buy time to restrategise and reorganise himself.”

According to Mr Achi, the Ouattara forces have no choice but to physically evict Gbagbo now.

As the Leader (editorial) of the New Statesman today argues, there are serious concerns over the shape and form of Ghana's relations with the neighbouring country after the exit of President Mills' friend and the dangerous diplomatic role the Ghanaian leader played in deepening Mr eveGbagbo's intransigence and frustrating international efforts to install Ouattara as the legitimately elected leader.

John Boadu, a Deputy Communications Director of the NPP, told the New Statesman, “We are very worried about the economic and political consequences of the needless strain that President Mills developed between himself and President Ouattara with that self-serving and nation-betraying Dzi wo fie asem policy of no principled abode or direction.”

Mr Boadu accused President Mills of standing accused in La Cote d'Ivoire as having the blood of the innocent victims of the Ivorian carnage in his hands. “If all the leaders of both the ECOWAS and the AU had stayed loyal to the collective view for Ouattara and against Gbagbo, Gbagbo would not have been stubbornly emboldened to stay on for as long as he did and there would have been no need for the loss of some 1,000 Ivorian lives over the period.”

President Mills was among the leaders of seven African nations who were either overtly or covertly supporting Mr Gbagbo. The other countries were The Gambia, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea, Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and South Africa

The NPP communications official described the situation as “one of the worst and costliest diplomatic blunders ever committed by a head of state in Ghana's history. It was very unwise, selfish and grossly miscalculated.”

African Union officials also say Mr Gbagbo told Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz that he was ready to step down and accept Mr Ouattara as the president.

The Economic Community of West African States has assured of a safe and dignified exit for Mr Gbagbo, who is thought to be hiding out in an underground bunker.

Ghana's Foreign Minister had earlier expressed our President's willingness to grant his friend, Gbagbo, political asylum.

Fighters backing Mr Ouattara battled Gbagbo troops for a sixth day in Abidjan before Gbagbo's army chief of staff, Phillipe Mangou, called for a ceasefire to protect civilians and soldiers as well as Mr Gbagbo, his family, and members of his government.

The U.N. mission in Ivory Coast says its peacekeepers will offer protection to members of the Gbagbo military who lay down their weapons.

U.N. and French troops against Gbagbo forces. Attack helicopters fired on Mr. Gbagbo's main military barracks and his residence after Secretary General Ban Ki-moon asked French President Nicolas Sarkozy for help in silencing mortars and rocket launchers that have been used against civilians and U.N. headquarters in Abidjan.

According to YJ Choi, the special representative of the United Nations secretary-general for Cote d'Ivoire, "the war is over".

"All the generals who are fighting for Gbagbo have deserted him, it is over. There is no army, there is no fighting," he said.

Three of Gbagbo's generals - the head of the armed forces, the head of the police and the head of the republican guard - have opened negotiations to secure a safe passage for Gbagbo and themselves.

Mr Gbagbo's spokesman, Ahoua Don Mello, told the Reuters news agency there were "direct negotiations based on African Union recommendations which said Alassane Ouattara is president".

"They are also negotiating judicial and security conditions for Gbagbo's camp and his relatives," Mr Don Mello said.