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Ivory Coast's first president, Felix Houphouet-Boigny, built the tunnel so he could take refuge inside the ambassador's residence in the event of a coup, said Ivory Coast expert Christian Bouquet, a professor of political geography at the University of Bordeaux III. In an irony of history, Gbagbo is said to have severed the link between the residences shortly after coming to power in 2000. He had accused France of backing a rebel group that attempted to overthrow him in 2002, and fighters from this same group are now backing Ouattara and carried out Wednesday's attack on the residence. The pro-Ouattara forces began their lighting advance just over a week ago attacking from the east, west and center of the country. At least 80 percent of the countryside was under their control by the time they entered Abidjan. On Tuesday, Gbagbo's soldiers were seen abandoning their posts, some rushing inside a church to tear off their uniforms before re-emerging in civilian clothes. His generals issued orders to stop fighting. Yet Gbagbo -- a former history professor -- appears to have calculated his rival's weakness: Ouattara knows that he needs to take Gbagbo alive to maintain international support, and to avoid further alienating voters who supported Gbagbo in last year's election. From inside his bunker, Gbagbo blasted the world in back-to-back interviews on French TV station LCI and French radio RFI. He said he would never step down, that there was nothing to negotiate and called the operation to oust him an international "game of poker." Ouattara's spokeswoman Affoussy Bamba said that she was nonetheless optimistic that the end was near. "He has nothing left. His arsenal is gone. His army has evaporated," she said by telephone from Abidjan. "How much longer can he last?"
[Associated
Press;
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