By Ange Aboa and Loucoumane Coulibaly
ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Ivory Coast's Laurent Gbagbo was captured and placed under the control of his presidential rival Monday after French troops closed in on the besieged compound where he had been holed up for the past week.
A column of more than 30 French armoured vehicles moved in on Gbagbo's residence in Abidjan after French and U.N. helicopter gunships began attacking the compound overnight to end a drawn-out standoff that had reignited a civil war.
Witnesses said Ouattara's forces, who had failed to dislodge Gbagbo despite mounting a fierce attack on his bunker last week, had joined French ground troops advancing on the compound.
Gbagbo refused to step down after November's presidential election, won by Alassane Ouattara according to results certified by the United Nations. The violence since has claimed more than 1,000 lives and uprooted a million people.
"Yes, he has been arrested," Affoussy Bamba, a spokeswoman for Ouattara, told Reuters.
Gbagbo's spokesman Ahoua Don Mello said he had left his bunker and surrendered to the French, offering no resistance.
The former colonial power, however, said the arrest had been carried out by Ouattara's forces backed by the U.N. and the French military. Some Ouattara fighters confirmed that version.
"Just after 3 o'clock, the ex-president Laurent Gbagbo handed himself over to the Republican Forces of Ivory Coast. At no moment did French forces enter either the garden or the residence of Gbagbo," French armed forces spokesman Thierry Burkhard said.
Gbagbo's arrest marked the end of his 10 years in power in the world's leading cocoa-growing nation.
While Ouattara will finally assume the presidency he has claimed since the disputed election, he will still have to confront longstanding ethnic divisions, years of economic stagnation and a worsening humanitarian crisis.
Gbagbo's arrest may not be enough to draw a line under the conflict. "Ouattara has to play this very carefully, to manage tensions at home and placate the domestic constituents of Gbagbo and so resolve not just the electoral dispute but also in effect a 10-year-long civil war," said Mark Schroeder, an analyst with political risk consultancy Stratfor.
GBAGBO SUBMISSIVE
Gbagbo was taken to the Hotel Golf in Abidjan, where his rival has his headquarters.
Ouattara's TCI television showed Gbagbo in a room at the Golf, with Ouattara's troops standing by him. Wearing a white undershirt, he looked in good health but submissive. He was given a towel and a green shirt, which he put on in front of the camera.
Gbagbo's wife Simone, believed by many Ivorians to possess powers of witchcraft, was with him at the hotel, looking dishevelled.
Gbagbo later made a brief appearance on the television station, calling for an end to fighting.
U.N. peacekeeping chief Alain Le Roy said the head of Gbagbo's forces had called to say that he was ready to lay down his weapons. A French military source said 200 members of Gbagbo's Republican Guard had given themselves up by midday.
"The nightmare has ended," Ouattara's Prime Minister Guillaume Soro said, while Ouattara's ambassador to the United Nations said Gbagbo would be "brought to justice."
Shortly after the news broke of Gbagbo's arrest, Nicolas Sarkozy's office said the French president had just had a long telephone conversation with Ouattara.
France, which has more than 1,600 troops in its former colony, took a lead role in efforts to persuade Gbagbo to relinquish power, infuriating his supporters who accuse Paris of neo-colonialism.
CHEERING YOUTHS
Celebrations erupted as news of the arrest spread in the commercial capital, where people have been trapped by fighting for 10 days, and food and water are running low.
"Let's hope the country can find peace and stability. I'm very happy," said Jean Desire Aitcheou.
"A big thank you to France for having liberated us," said Fidi Ouattara (no relation to the presidential claimant).
Earlier Monday, residents reported heavy fighting around Abidjan's Cocody and Plateau districts, while the French headed towards downtown Abidjan.
Meanwhile, hundreds of pro-Ouattara troops massed at a base camp just north of Abidjan, where a bus arrived, filled with new Kalashnikov rifles still in their transparent blue wrappers.
Some Gbagbo supporters around Cocody district, where his residence is located, tried to halt the French armoured vehicles, kneeling in front of them praying, but were quickly dispersed when another round of firing began.
Ouattara's ability to unify the West African country may be undermined by reports of atrocities against civilians since his forces charged into Abidjan.
Ouattara's camp denies involvement, but a report by Human Rights Watch said his forces had killed hundreds of civilians, raped more than 20 women and girls said to belong to Gbagbo's camp and burnt at least 10 villages in western Ivory Coast.
Gbagbo's fighters are also accused of massacres.
The arrest of Gbagbo and the lifting of European Union sanctions on the two main ports in the world's top cocoa-producing nation mean cocoa exports may be possible by next week.
Cocoa prices, which had earlier risen sharply on reports of fighting, fell back when Gbagbo's arrest was announced.
Ivory Coast's $2.3 billion (1.4 billion pounds) bond rallied more than half a point Monday, reversing earlier 3-point losses, after Gbagbo was arrested.
(Additional reporting by Emmanuel Braun in Abidjan, Louis Charbonneau at the United Nations, Vicky Buffery and Elizabeth Pineau in Paris, Bate Felix in Dakar; Writing by Silvia Aloisi; Editing by Andrew Roche)
