Ivory Coast’s election victor in final offensive

IVORY COAST’S internationally recognised leader Alassane Ouattara is poised to launch a final push in Abidjan to defeat his cornered rival, a top official said as both sides deny committing atrocities.

France has begun assembling its citizens at three points in the city amid fears of a final battle between forces loyal to the country’s rival presidents, and has boosted its forces by another 150 men to 1,650 troops.

Meanwhile the United Nations has sent an envoy to probe allegations of human rights abuses in the wake of the massacre of hundreds of civilians in the western town of Duekoue.