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Alassane Ouattara meanwhile appears increasingly weakened, trapped in his hotel headquarters by his rival’s men for nearly a month and a half.

“It is too early to say that Gbagbo has won through attrition but it is clear that he is playing for time,” International Crisis Group (ICG) analyst Gilles Yabi said after the latest African Union mediation ended this week with no breakthrough.

“Gbagbo’s strategy is suffocation,” said Alioune Tine, president for African human rights groups Raddho, from Dakar. “It is the strategy of a boa.”

Gbagbo, declared the winner of the election by the Constitutional Council, considers himself the legitimate president, as does Ouattara, declared victor by the electoral commission.
Ouattara is also supported by most of the international community, which has pushed Gbagbo to quit but to no avail.

After meeting Monday with Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga, the African Union mediator, Gbagbo’s camp suggested he was open to negotiations with his rival.
But he has resisted all incentives for his peaceful departure, including exile and amnesty.

“Negotiations suit him, and more and more suffocate Alassane Ouattara who is locked away in his HQ,” said Tine.
Ouattara is effectively under siege at Abidjan’s Golf Hotel — Gbagbo’s men on one side, his armed supporters and UN peacekeepers on the other.-AFP