2011010
allafrica

Forces loyal to former president Laurent Gbagbo have launched a "renewed assault" against those of the internationally-recognized leader of Cote d'Ivoire, Allasane Ouattara, the United States government said Sunday.


In a statement issued in Washington, DC, U.S. State Department spokesman Mark C. Toner accused Gbagbo, who is reported to be entrenched in a bunker in Abidjan, of engaging in "a ruse to regroup and rearm" when he joined negotiations over the past week.

News agencies report that it appeared Gbagbo had used the pause in fighting created by talks to re-assemble, and the BBC said that his forces had attacked the Abidjan hotel from which Ouattara operates.

Agence France-Presse was reported as quoting a hotel resident as saying on Saturday: "The firing is very very close. Snipers fired bursts from Kalashnikovs. The pro-Gbagbos are attacking us on all fronts."

A spokesman for the United Nations, whose peacekeepers are protecting the h