Gbagbo negotiating Ivory Coast exit from bunker

IVORY Coast’s Laurent Gbagbo was negotiating the terms of his departure from power last night following a fierce assault by forces loyal to his presidential rival backed by UN and French helicopter airstrikes.

France said it expected a swift exit by Gbagbo, who had clung to power since refusing to concede he lost last November’s presidential election to Alassane Ouattara, plunging the world’s top cocoa-growing nation into renewed civil war.

“We are on the brink of convincing him to leave power,” French foreign minister Alain Juppe told parliament in Paris.