20110411
reuters

ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Shouts of joy erupted in parts of Abidjan on Monday as news of the arrest of Laurent Gbagbo spread through Ivory Coast's main city, where many had been trapped in their homes during 10 days of heavy fighting.

But some warned the country's deep crisis was not over and that armed supporters of the former president were still at large.

Residents drove their cars around, hooting in jubilation. In Koumassi, a district in the south of Abidjan, Mariam Cisse said residents were on the streets, chanting: "Gbagbo is gone. Gbagbo is gone."

"It is unbelievable what is going on here. People are running around in every direction and screaming that they are finally free," said Ali Toure in Abobo, a neighbourhood dominated by supporters of Gbagbo's presidential rival Alassane Ouattara and scarred by violence.

Gbagbo had refused to step down after losing U.N.-certified elections last November to Ouattara, plunging the world's top cocoa-producing country into a violent confrontation that has left thousands dead and more than a million displaced.

Gbagbo, who says the election was fraudulent, was arrested on Monday after French armoured vehicles closed in on the compound where he had been holed up in a bunker.

"There is jubilation on the streets of Deux Plateaux," said Francois Deya. "People are celebrating all over".

In Adjame, in front of a police station, a group of armed pro-Ouattara youths unfurled a giant Ivorian flag before an ecstatic crowd.