Forces loyal to Laurent Gbagbo, besieged in his Abidjan residence, have retaken ground and are edging closer to where rival presidential claimant Alassane Ouattara is holed up, the United Nations said.
UN peacekeeping chief Alain Le Roy told reporters Mr Gbagbo's forces had used a lull in fighting on Tuesday for peace talks as a ruse to reinforce their positions.
"We understand that since that time, the forces of Mr. Gbagbo . . . have regained terrain and they have full control of the Plateau and Cocody area," Mr Le Roy said, referring to districts where his residence and diplomats' homes are located.
France, the former colonial power in Ivory Coast, said Mr Gbagbo's forces had fired at the residence of the French ambassador, prompting counter-strikes by French helicopters.
Mr Gbagbo, who has refused to cede power to Mr Ouattara despite UN certified results showing he lost a November election, remains isolated in the bunker under his residence where he has sought refuge from a concerted assault by Mr Ouattara's troops.
Only three days ago, his defeat had appeared imminent and talks took place between the two sides. Mr Le Roy said yesterday fighting was still going on but there was a stalemate.
In another sign of Mr Gbagbo regaining influence, his RTI television, silent since fierce fighting broke out in Abidjan this week, came back on air broadcasting an appeal for support. "The regime of Gbagbo is still in place, a strong mobilisation is required by the population," it said.
Mr Gbagbo, who has ruled Ivory Coast since 2000, is defended by around 1,000 men - his presidential guard and youth militiamen, but Mr Ouattara's allies say he has also armed civilians.
Mr Ouattara has based himself in the Golf Hotel since the November 28th, 2010 election, which was meant to draw a line under a 2002-3 civil war which split the world's top cocoa producer in two.
Mr Le Roy said Gbagbo forces were edging towards the building, which has been under UN guard. "While we speak they may be very close to the Golf Hotel," he said.
French helicopters struck Mr Gbagbo's compound in the early evening, hours after an attack by his forces on the nearby residence of the French envoy, witnesses said.
The United Nations human rights office said yesterday it had found 115 corpses in the west in the past 24 hours, adding to the 800 dead reported by aid groups last week.
Some of the victims were burnt alive and others thrown into wells, in a chilling reminder of the ethnic and religious divisions gripping the country - and mirroring the divide between Mr Gbagbo, whose traditional powerbase is in the Christian south, and Mr Ouattara's Muslim, northern-based forces.
Reuters