French Rescue Japanese Amb In Ivory Coast

BBC News reports:

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 as leader, French officials said.

His rival Alassane Ouattara's forces surround the residence, where fighting continued through the night.

Mr Gbagbo refuses to step down despite being beaten in November's election.

He says he won, but the Ivorian election commission said 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.

'A lot of blood'

The BBC's Andrew Harding, near Abidjan, says the city 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.

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