Would-be Ivory Coast leader Alassane Ouattara said Thursday that he had been contacted by army officers currently fighting for Laurent Gbagbo and predicted his rival would face a "surprise".
The world has recognised Ouattara as the victor of last year's Ivorian presidential election, but the incumbent Gbagbo has refused to step down, retaining control of the armed forces and key levers of state.
Ouattara, meanwhile, is besieged in Abidjan's Golf Hotel, protected by UN peacekeepers and unable to wield power. In an interview with France's Canal+ television he predicted this might soon change.
"In reality we have an army that is not armed," Ouattara said of Ivory Coast's 17,000-strong Defence and Security Forces (FDS), theoretically still loyal to Gbagbo and in control of the south of the country.
"Gbagbo took the arms and ammunition and stocked them in the presidential palace with a clan of soldiers recruited essentially from his region and his ethnic group. It is these who give him his strength," he alleged.
"But we have many general staff officers, many senior officers that have got in touch with us and say they have had enough of this situation. A day will come when he'll leave and he'll have surprises, Mr Laurent Gbagbo.
"He'll step down. I'm convinced I have lots of support among army officers and senior administrative officials and all those who have had enough. I can tell you Ivorians can not put up with this situation," he said.
Since the political stand-off began, the official spokesmen of the armed forces have professed loyalty to Gbagbo's regime, but on the streets he has notably depended on his Republican Guard and Cecos police special forces.
Ouattara's camp and UN monitors have also warned of the presence of Liberian mercenaries, although Gbagbo insists he has not recruited foreigners.
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