Ivory Coast strongman Laurent Gbagbo will be taken alive and put on trial, the country's UN envoy says, as Outtara called on his forces to 'maintain discipline'.
Ambassador Youssoufou Bamba said there could be no more negotiations with Gbagbo, who has refused to hand power to internationally recognised president Alassane Ouattara and is surrounded in his Abidjan bunker.
"Sooner or later he will be captured and brought to justice," Bamba told a press conference while insisting Ouattara wants his rival taken alive even though his forces have tried one offensive against the Gbagbo bunker.
"Too much blood has been shed. We would not give the luxury to Mr Gbagbo to be a martyr. He will be captured alive and will respond before justice for the crimes he has committed," the envoy said.
"We are praying for that."
'No more negotiations with Gbagbo'
Bamba said there could be no more negotiations with Gbagbo after the failure of efforts this week to convince the longtime leader to stand down.
Gbagbo sent his foreign minister to negotiate with the French ambassador but at the same time appeared on a French televisionchannel to say he would not recognise Ouattara as president, according to Bamba.
He said South Africa, Angola, Mauritania and the United States had in the past been spoken of as possible exile countries but they were no longer candidates.
"As of today, the game is over, said Bamba. "In the last four months we have exhausted all the resources of mediation.
He wants only to buy time."
Ouattara was declared winner of a November presidential election but Gbagbo refused to acknowledge the result. Hundreds have been killed in strife since then and Ouattara forces surrounded Gbagbo's remaining loyalists in Abijdan this week.
Outtara calls on forces to 'maintain discipline'
Alassane Ouattara called on his forces to maintain discipline and ordered a blockade of his rival Laurent Gbagbo's residence, in a televised address.
Ouattara also called on his forces to restore order in the main city of Abidjan and appealed for unity among the population in the wake of the recent fierce fighting.
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