SA’s ambassador to Abidjan, Zodwa Lallie, and the rest of the embassy staff and their families, were still trapped in the embassy and ambassador’s residence.
|||South Africa’s ambassador to Abidjan, Zodwa Lallie, and the rest of the embassy staff and their families, were still trapped in the embassy and ambassador’s residence today, trying to negotiate a safe passage to the outlying airport so they could be flown home.
They had hoped to be able to get out on Tuesday when embattled former President Laurent Gbagbo approached the French ambassador to negotiate a peace deal.
But the negotiations failed and the fighting between his forces and those of internationally recognised president Alassane Ouattara at Gbagbo’s presidential residence near the South African embassy broke out again. That kept the South Africans confined to the embassy and the residence opposite.
“There is no change. They are still trying to negotiate a safe passage out,” said Clayson Monyela, spokesman for the Department of International Relations and Co-operation, today.
But reports that Ouattara’s forces had now entered the presidential residence raised hopes that the war could soon be over and so the South Africans could leave.
Bunker
Gbagbo is believed to be huddled in a bunker under his residence.
A South African aircraft has been standing by at Accra airport in neighbouring Ghana since Sunday morning to collect the embassy staff from Abidjan airport.
But the fighting in the streets, the closed airspace and French control of the airport have all conspired to prevent them leaving, Lallie said earlier this week.
The dangers of trying to break out too early were sharply illustrated yesterday when French troops evacuating the Japanese ambassador from his residence not far from the South African embassy came under fire from militias and had to shoot their way out. - Daily News
Source: http://www.iol.co.za/embassy-staff-still-trapped-in-i-coast-1.1053843
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