The Ivory Coast town of Man was late on Monday ”totally under control” of forces loyal to President Laurent Gbagbo, who would soon try to recapture more rebel-held towns, an Ivorian army
representative said.
Government forces on early on Sunday evening launched an offensive to take Man and three other towns in the west of Ivory Coast, which last week fell to new rebel groups which have just emerged in the country’s ten-week old conflict.
Residents who fled the fighting at Man said the soldiers met with fierce resistance from the rebels, who claim allegiance to slain former military ruler Robert Guei.
Army representative Lieutenant-Colonel Jules Yao Yao said on state television late on Monday: ”As far as Man is concerned we have achieved this objective” of regaining control of the town.
The insurgency in the west began last week. Gbagbo had already lost control of the northern part of the country to army mutineers and former soldiers who first launched an uprising on September 19.
Yao Yao added that government troops in the west would now advance on Danane et Toulepleu, near the border with Liberia. He said that ”a few” soldiers had been injured and several rebels had been killed, without giving precise casualty figures.
Yao Yao also wanted to warn the population that ”a good number of the rebels spoke English and had taken to systematically looting” the western towns under their control.
Residents of Man and Danane said there were ”English-speaking Liberian nationals” in the towns at the weekend, but it was unclear whether they had been fighting alongside the Ivorian rebels.
The Liberian government on Monday announced that it had closed its border with Ivory Coast in a bid to prevent trouble-makers entering the country.
Liberian President Charles Taylor has for three years been battling rebels on his own soil and has said he feared Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) fighters would ”exploit” the conflict in Ivory Coast. – Sapa-AFP