Nigeria Content Online

Heavy clashes broke
out on Monday in the town of Duekoue, in western Cote d’ Ivoire, between
forces loyal to incumbent Laurent Gbagbo and his rival in an election
dispute, residents and combatants said.

Duekoue has remained
under Mr. Gbagbo’s control since Cote D’Ivoire’s 2002-3 civil war, but
rebels who seized the north of the country and now back his rival
Alassane Ouattara have pushed towards the town as the country’s
post-election crisis turns increasingly violent.

The rebels said they
had taken Duekoue, lying in a region that produces around 250,000
tonnes of cocoa a year for the world’s top grower.

“The town of Duekoue
has been under our control since 7 a.m. (0700 GMT). We are conducting
search operations throughout,” said Lacine Mara, a spokesman for
pro-Ouattara forces in the west.

Mr. Gbagbo’s forces confirmed the fighting but said they remained in control of at least part of the town.

“Our men have been
in combat since about 2 a.m. (0200 GMT) this morning with the rebels,
who tried to take the town. We control one part and they control the
other,” said Yao Yao, operations chief of Gbagbo’s Front for the
Liberation of the Great West (FLGO) militia.

A violent dispute
over the presidential election last November that was meant to draw a
line under the country’s civil war has instead restarted it, after Mr.
Gbagbo refused to step down despite U.N.-certified results showing that
he lost.

Up to one million
Ivoriens have now fled fighting in the main city Abidjan alone. Others
have been uprooted across the country and around 100,000 from the west
have crossed into neighbouring Liberia, according to the U.N. refugee
agency.

Pro-Ouattara forces
have already seized four towns in the west and Mr. Gbagbo’s forces fear
that if they capture enough important towns, they will be able to march
south to the port of San Pedro, which ships about half Ivory Coast’s
cocoa crop.

“The rebels want to
take Duekoue and Guiglo so they can easily descend on San Pedro,” Mr.
Yao Yao said. “We won’t let them.” The violent stand-off has led to 462
confirmed deaths, according to the U.N. Last week around 15,000
pro-Gbagbo youths turned up at army headquarters to enlist, raising
fears that all out civil war is now unavoidable.

“Since this morning,
the military and the militias have been fighting with the rebels, who
have taken control of the main road leading to (rebel-held) Man,” said
cocoa trader Daouda Fadika. “We’re hearing heavy weapons fire and
Kalashnikovs.” A Reuters reporter in the main city of Abidjan also
reported shooting and heavy arms fire on Monday, from areas where
insurgents seeking to oust Gbagbo are pushing towards the city centre.

Ouattara has been internationally recognised as president but remains
holed up in an Abidjan hotel, protected by a ring of U.N. peacekeepers.