Ivory Coast's incumbent leader has been captured by French troops and fighters backing the country's internationally recognized president.
French military officials in Abidjan say incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo was captured at the presidential compound in the Cocody neighborhood after helicopter gunships attacked the residence Monday morning.
The French ambassador here says Mr. Gbagbo was captured by fighters backing internationally-recognized president Alassane Ouattara. Those troops were backed by French special forces who used tanks to advance on the compound, where Mr. Gbagbo was holding out in an underground complex, refusing to recognize that he lost November's presidential vote.
Mr. Gbagbo's capture ends the four-month political standoff between the presidential rivals. But Mr. Ouattara must still reconcile Gbagbo supporters who say their leader's fall was engineered by the international community and does not reflect the will of the Ivorian people.
U.N. and French attack helicopters Sunday fired on heavy weapons at the presidential compound, in what U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon says was an assault to enforce the mission's Security Council mandate to protect civilians and U.N. peacekeepers. The secretary-general says Gbagbo forces were using heavy artillery and mortars to attack the U.N. base in Abidjan as well as Mr. Ouattara's headquarters.
Mr. Gbagbo said he was re-elected when the constitutional council annulled as fraudulent nearly ten percent of ballots cast in his run-off election with Mr. Ouattara. Electoral commission results certified by the U.N. say Mr. Ouattara won.
