United Nations peacekeepers have surrounded the "last defenders" of Ivory Coast incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo, after a week of heavy fighting to unseat him.
Forces loyal to rival presidential claimant Alassane Ouattara have been waging an offensive in Abidjan to topple Mr Gbagbo, who has refused to cede power after losing last November's election, according to results certified by the United Nations.
"At this moment the military situation is as follows; the UNOCI (United Nations mission in Ivory Coast) troops have surrounded in a limited area the last defenders of the previous president Gbagbo," French defence minister Gerard Longuet told the French Senate today.
A United Nations spokesman in Abidjan said the UN had sent forces into the Cocody neighbourhood, where Mr Gbagbo is believed to be holed up in his heavily defended compound, but did not plan to intervene. "We have sent a patrol to Cocody and the surrounding area, but it is not to intervene," UN spokesman Hamadoun Toure said.
Earlier, French forces hit military vehicles belonging to troops loyal to Ms Gbagbo during a helicopter-borne mission that rescued Japan's ambassador to the West African country.
The French went in overnight after Gbagbo soldiers broke into the Japanese residence, where ambassador Yoshifumi Okamura and seven of his staff had taken shelter inside a safe room, French armed forces spokesman Thierry Burkhard said.
Mr Ouattara's forces attempted to storm the residence in the upscale Cocody neighbourhood earlier last night after talks led by the United Nations and France to secure Mr Gbagbo's departure failed, but they were pushed back by heavy weapons fire, a western diplomatic source who lives nearby said.
The former colonial power in Ivory Coast, France has taken a leading role in talks to persuade Mr Gbagbo to hand over to Mr Ouattara and end the standoff.
A UN spokesman in New York said negotiations with Mr Gbagbo's camp were continuing, but it was not clear if they would lead anywhere, especially as Mr Gbagbo himself told French radio he had no intention of stepping down.
Helicopters commanded by the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Ivory Coast bombarded Mr Gbagbo's heavy weapons stockpiles earlier this week, including those near his residence - but those attacks ended on Tuesday.
Analysts said Ouattara forces, who swept south last week in a lightly contested march toward Abidjan, could struggle to best Mr Gbagbo's remaining presidential guard and militias. "Just like in Libya, it's going to take both the rebels and outside forces to push Gbagbo out," said Sebastian Spio-Garbrah, analyst at DaMina Advisors in New York.
Mr Gbagbo has ruled Ivory Coast since 2000 and blames Paris for supporting the north of the country in the civil war of 2002-03. Rebels from that war now make up the bulk of Mr Ouattara's force.
Last year's long-delayed election in the world's top cocoa producing nation was meant to draw a line under the civil war, but Mr Gbagbo's refusal to give up power has plunged the country into violence that has killed more than 1,500 people.
The International Criminal Court prosecutor said on Tuesday he was in talks with West African states about referring alleged atrocities in the Ivory Coast to the court after a reported massacre in the west of the country.
Reuters