• Thursday, March 31, 2011
• Inter Press Service

Forces loyal to Alassane Ouattara, the internationally recognised winner of Cote d'Ivoire's presidential election, say they have seized control of another two central towns in their advance toward the country's capital.

Captain Leon Alla, a defence spokesman for Ouattara, said pro-Ouattara forces took control of Bouafle early on Wednesday and Sinfra on Tuesday. Heavy gunfire was heard early on Wednesday in Bouafle, which is midway between the cocoa-producing hub of Daloa and the country's capital Yamoussoukro.

Residents of Tiebisso, 40km north of the capital, also reported fighting. 'Since about six o'clock this morning, we are hearing gunfire in Bouafle,' Alain Zagole, a resident of the town, told the Reuters news agency by phone. 'Machine gun fire and often heavy detonations. It is as if there are clashes,' he said.

Thousands of people continue to flee the country due to the heavy fighting following November's contested elections. In the past few days, forces loyal to Ouattara have stepped up their military campaign - moving from their strongholds in the north into the government-controlled south.

Earlier this week, they reportedly seized the towns of Daloa, Bondoukou and Belleville and were fighting for the town of Duekoue. Marco Oved, a freelance journalist in Abijdan, said the seizures represent rapid victories for pro-Ouattara forces against fighters loyal to Laurent Gbagbo, the country's incumbent leader who has refused to step down.

'They've moved hundreds of kilometres often from the west into the centre of the country, and the east into the centre,' he told Al Jazeera. The pro-Ouattara forces, which Ouattara has recognised as his military and renamed the Cote d'Ivoire Republican Forces (FRCI), have controlled northern Cote d'Ivoire since the civil war of 2002-2003. But Oved said it is unclear how much control is coming from Ouattara himself.

© Inter Press Service (2011) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

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