20110329
reuters

ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Forces loyal to Ivory Coast presidential claimant Alassane Ouattara seized two major towns in the western cocoa belt in an offensive that is also picking up momentum in the east of the country.

In a sign of how bloody the West African state's post-election conflict has become, forces loyal to Ouattara's rival, incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo, opened fire on civilians in Abidjan on Monday, killing about 10, the United Nations peacekeeping mission said in a statement.

Gbagbo's camp was not immediately available for comment.

Witnesses and fighters from both sides of the conflict said on Tuesday that the former rebels, who have controlled northern Ivory Coast since the civil war of 2002-3, had seized the western town of Daloa from Gbagbo's troops.

They also took Duekoue, further to the west. Both towns potentially open up a route to the major exporting port of San Pedro and the area they now control produces about 600,000 tonnes of cocoa a year, half of Ivory Coast's output.

San Pedro ships out about that amount each year.

In an escalation of fighting that had previously been limited to Abidjan and the far west, pro-Ouattara forces have also made progress in the far east of the country, marching south near the Ghana border.

A violent dispute over last November's presidential election that U.N.-certified results showed Ouattara won, but which Gbagbo refuses to concede, has rekindled the civil war it was meant to finally end. Heavy fighting has rocked Abidjan and across much of a north-south ceasefire line.