Soldiers loyal to President Laurent Gbagbo battled Monday to crush an apparent coup attempt by rebel fighters against the Ivory Coast leader barely two months after he was elected to office.
Interior Minister Emile Boga Doudou told AFP government troops had managed to regain control of the television station from a group of rebels who seized the building late Sunday and were headed to the headquarters of the radio service which was still under control of the fighters.
The coup attempt "has failed" and the rebels have been routed, said Boga Doudou following an evening of fighting that rocked Ivory Coast's economic capital Abidjan.
The minister said several of the fighters had been arrested and that there were "dead, mostly among the assailants" from the fighting, which at times involved heavy machine guns and artillery.
The rebels also attacked the president's office in Abidjan's Plateau sector, his official residence in Cocody and the Agban headquarters of the gendarmerie, but all the assaults were repulsed, officials said.
Gbagbo, who was swept to power by a popular uprising after Ivory Coast military ruler Robert Guei attempted to ignore defeat in October presidential elections, had left Abidjan for the interior of the country on Friday amid widespread rumors that a coup attempt was being planned.
Defense Minister Moise Lida Kouassi said government troops were restoring order and asserted that the coup attempt would be over "in the early hours" Monday.
Fighting broke out around 11:30 PM (2330 GMT) Sunday with the assailants concentrating their attacks on the radio building in the central Plateau district and the television station in the Cocody residential neighborhood.
The motive for the attack was not immediately clear.
An unidentified man claiming to speak on behalf of mutinous Ivorian "soldiers" announced shortly after 3:00 am (0300 GMT) on national radio that they were in control of the broadcast centers and would address the population soon.
"The safety of citizens will be guaranteed," said the spokesman before announcing another address "in the next few hours."
Boga Doudou told AFP the assailants had "taken radio and television technicians hostage" to make them broadcast it.
Television and radio broadcasts were cut off shortly after the shooting started before midnight.
Boga Doudou refused to estimate how many attackers there were, saying he had not had a chance to review the situation with Defense Minister Moise Lida Kouassi.
Meanwhile Lida Kouassi told AFP the attack had been carried out by "elements in civilian clothing" who had arrived in unmarked vehicles.
Questioned shortly before 1:00 am, he described the situation as "still a bit dangerous" but said it would be "under control by the morning."
Both ministers said they had been informed several days ago that a coup was being hatched. Neither would speculate on who was behind it.
However Lida Kouassi said: "I was told that among the attackers was one of the people who had moved in against the residence of Guei."
Guei, who seized power in Ivory Coast's first military coup in December 1999, was reportedly the target of an attack by followers of former prime minister Alassane Ouattara on the night of September 17, 2000.
Ouattara, a Muslim from the northern Ivory Coast, was prevented from running in either the presidential election or subsequent parliamentary polls, sparking violent protests by his followers.
The former numbers two and three in the Guei's junta, Generals Lassana Palenfo and Abdoulaye Coulibaly, had been accused by Guei of having ordered the attack on his residence, a charge they have always denied.
The two are still in detention.
Unconfirmed reports said the assailants early Monday tried to free Palenfo. AFP meanwhile managed to contact Coulibaly by mobile phone: he said he was still being detained in the gendarmerie camp -- ABIDJAN (AFP)
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
