French forces have snatched the Japanese ambassador to safety from near the besieged presidential residence in Ivory Coast's main city, Abidjan.
Soldiers exchanged fire with guards at the compound where Laurent Gbagbo is holed up, refusing to stand down.
His rival Alassane Ouattara's forces surround the residence, where fighting continued through the night.
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe says Israel has now asked Paris to extract Israeli diplomats from Abidjan.
Mr Gbagbo has refused to step down despite being beaten in an election in November.
'A lot of blood'
He says he won, but the Ivorian election commission found that he lost and the UN certified that result.
The ballot had been intended to reunite the former French colony, which split in two following a northern rebellion in 2002.
After months of negotiations, pro-Ouattara forces last week swept south to Abidjan.
The BBC's Andrew Harding, near the city, says it was lit up by explosions overnight, with much but by no means all the fighting around the presidential residence.
He says although Mr Gbagbo's senior generals have given up the fight, his armed supporters continue to put up strong resistance in several neighbourhoods.
On Wednesday, pro-Ouattara forces were driven back after launching what they said would be a decisive assault on the presidential compound.
Mr Gbagbo says his rival's troops want to kill him, but they say they have strict orders to capture him alive.
Late on Wednesday, French helicopters moved in to evacuate the Japanese ambassador, Okamura Yoshifumi, after his home near the presidential residence was invaded by unidentified gunmen.
The envoy and his aides were whisked to safety in a French military camp at Port-Bouet, south of Abidjan, the French embassy said.
The French said they had acted after a request from Japan and the UN.
During the operation, French forces exchanged fire with fighters defending Mr Gbagbo's residence.
A number of other diplomatic missions are based in the besieged area.
France has had troops in Ivory Coast alongside UN peacekeepers since the country's civil war almost a decade ago.
Mr Okamura told AFP news agency a group of "mercenaries" had occupied his residence for five hours.
He said the gunmen had launched rockets and fired machine-guns and cannon from the building, while he and others sheltered in a room.
The envoy said he later found four employees, security guards and a gardener, were missing and there was "a lot of blood" in the house.
Civilians under siege
Speaking by phone to French radio on Wednesday, Mr Gbagbo denied he was hiding in a bunker.
"I am in the residence - the residence of the president of the republic," he said.
Earlier he rejected claims he was surrendering, saying he was only negotiating a truce.
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said Mr Gbagbo's "intransigence" had stopped UN-brokered talks to negotiate an orderly departure.
On Monday, UN attack helicopters bombarded Gbagbo arms sites in Abidjan, including inside the presidential compound.
Pro-Gbagbo forces had been accused of firing heavy weaponry at UN peacekeepers and into areas of the city that voted for his opponent.
As the rival presidents' forces continue to fight over the presidency, concern is growing over the humanitarian situation in Ivory Coast.
The battle for Abidjan has now been raging for a week and it is unsafe for many of the city's four million people to go outside.
The main banks have been closed for nearly two months and few people have the funds to stock up on food.
The UN refugee agency reports an increase in the number of Ivorians crossing the border into neighbouring Liberia.
The International Criminal Court says it will investigate reports of human rights abuses by both sides during the fighting, which has left hundreds dead.
12 comments:
All of this fighting and bombing will lead to nothing good. If they have a problem with the government then they should take it up with them peacefully. If the government sees that all their people are trying to fight against them, then obviously something is wrong. They need to listen to the people and what they want, and change their ways.
This article gives further evidence of the problems that exist beyound the facade of the United states boundries. Government is hard to function and with the possiblity of less than perfect leaders, the peoples interests become intwinded in the polotics and the functioning of banning the outside source takes all their will so the problems still exist but now we have a scapegoat. I think this leader is wrong. I also think this article further explicates my want for more allaince in forgein affairs. Were going through crisis but are we gonna let it blind od from the rest of the world that does not possess oil??
For someone to take losing a presidential election to these type of extreme measures and to not try and stop it but letting it go on doesn't deserve to be President. It's one thing if there is a little riot and then the police force stops it and not many people are injured, but for this to be going on for a week and it has left hundreds dead is not necessary. Mr. Gbagbo told the French that he was trying to negotiate a "truce" when instead he needs to just surrender because many innocent people are being harmed and even killed. It made the French worry even more when pro-Gbagbo forces, armed gunmen, uninvitedly enter the Japanese Ambassador's home. With the UN peacekeepers getting involved and even getting fired at with "heavy weaponry" really puts the cheery on top of how bad it is. Residence are scared to the point where they feel it is not safe for them to walk outside their homes. Something just needs to happen quick and soon because it is getting dangerous and deadly in the Ivory Coast's main city, Abidjan.
It is always a sad state of affairs whenever an official voted out in a free election refuses to step down. I'm probably more impressed that he has enough supporters to put up an armed resistance. I know that the numbers of weapons in such countries allows for such an opportunity, but it seems rather unlikely that civilians would defend an official that lost in a fair election. Still, I'm glad that the French military is stepping up to protect foreign diplomats in this new war zone. The ability to keep diplomatic options free from the stain of blood is a necessity in these situations. Fingers crossed that the UN can come to some palatable cease-fire for both sides.
I am glad that the UN is more on top of things this go around. This debaucle does not look like it will turn into another Lybia because much of gbagbo's main forces have surrendered and much of the forces against are very well organized. He also lost the election which the UN backs, which means of this become an international incident then the UN will be on Outtarra's side of the battlefield.
The UN seems to be on top of things this time, unlike Libya where they were slow to act. This is most likely not going to turn out ot be another Libya because most of Gbagbo's main forces and military leaders have stepped down, only his supporters defend him now. Since Gbagbo's opposition is Outtarra and his forces seem to be well organized this should be resolved rather quickly. Not to mention that since Outtarra already won in the election and the UN recognizes this victory, if this becomes a national incident then the UN will be on Outtarra's side of the battlefield to unseat Gbagbo.
A lot of crazy things going on in the world these days, i feel like maybe we should increase our help efforts. i mean the french? come on. We should do better
Once the Egyptian people rebelled against their own government they really opened the flood gates. Iran, Libya, Ivory coast, etc. these countries have all pushed for democracy, but is this a good thing? Ever since the rebellions started there has been much more blood shed. And in my opinion the culture that they have over in that part of the world will simply not allow for democracy so in the end the countries will probably return to how they were before the rebellions.
Following the revolutions in Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt, and the on going one in Libya, many of the long-time sitting African presidents are being removed from office. While many of these leaders claim they were "democratically" elected, their regimes fail to provide many of the basic necessities to the people of their nation. Ivory Coast will probably be one of the many nations in the coming months to remove its president from power.
This battle seems serious. Gbagbo is stubborn and needs to realize he lost. Japan doesn't need anymore trouble. Hopefully the UN can help and solve this matter with the fewest amount of casualties.
I think that he is acting childish. Although I do not know the specifics on it, it seems that he lost his presidency and is not able to accept it. That really shows you how inadequate of a leader he is. A true leader knows when its time to step down and he does so in a graceful manner. I am positive he has lost a lot of respect amongst his people because of this act and he will not be able to earn it back. Hopefully the situation will end in a peaceful motion, which it seems its been going that way, and he see his fault in his ways.
Well this is the end of the world as we know it. French forces protecting Okumora. Things here in the middle east are just getting worse. Makes you think if a election is really gonna' do it. With so many violant citizens as it is things dont look so bright. Anyways the calm of this storm is yet to come with this coming election for them.
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