Ivory Coast's Laurent Gbagbo 'negotiating surrender' (Breaking News Brief)

CREDIT: UNNews(HN, April 4, 2011) -- The UN says three generals loyal to Laurent Gbagbo, the Ivory Coast’s beleaguered president are negotiating terms of surrender in return for guaranteed safety for them and Gbagbo.

Troops loyal to Gbagbo’s rival, UN-recognized President Alassane Ouattara, say they have surrounded the compound where Mr. Gbagbo and his family are sheltering in the basement bunker of his residence in the country's main city of Abidjan.

“We are very close to convincing him to leave power”, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe told the National Assembly in Paris.

UN and French helicopters had attacked several targets on Monday.

Mr Gbagbo has refused to leave office even though the Ivorian election commission declared him the loser of November's run-off vote, and the UN certified the result.

Mr Gbagbo's foreign minister, Alcide Djedje speaking from the French embassy in Abidjan, told the BBC the "war is over".

--HUMNEWS