A militia loyal to Ivory Coast incumbent Laurent Gbabgo confirmed today rebels had seized a third town in the west and said reinforcements were on the way to try and take it back.
A post-election standoff between Mr Gbabgo and his rival Alassane Ouattara has degenerated into gun battles in the main city Abidjan and led the northern rebels to push south in the heaviest fighting since they tried to topple the president in a 2002-2003 civil war.
Analysts fear that Ivory Coast's political crisis following the disputed presidential election will spill over into full-blown civil war. An estimated 400 people have been killed since the November 28th vote.
The UN refugee body says more than 200,000 people have fled fighting in Abidjan in the last week, and more than 70,000 have crossed the border into Liberia to avoid fighting in the country's west.
The UN declared MrOuattara the winner of the election, but the sitting president refuses to cede power after more than a decade in office. His security forces are accused of abducting, torturing and killing political opponents.
The rebels, who took two smaller towns in the west a week ago, announced yesterday that they had captured Toulepleu.
"There were not enough of us to contain them this time as we were hugely outnumbered," said Yao Yao, the chief of Gbagbo's Front for the Liberation of the Great West (FLGO) militia force. "We retreated to Bloequin, from where we are preparing a counter-offensive. The military reinforcements arrived yesterday."
Cocoa futures have already been regularly breaking 30-year highs on the insecurity. Industry regulatory data showed that unexported stocks of cocoa beans sitting at ports reached over 475,000 tonnes.
Meanwhile, British miner Cluff Gold said it has suspended operations at its Angovia mine due to shortages of fuel, explosives, cement and cyanide and will not reopen it until political stability returns.
Agencies