Ivory Coast rebels take 2 more towns in country's center

Rebel forces backing Ivory Coast's internationally recognized president were advancing toward the capital Wednesday after seizing two more towns in the center of the country.

Capt. Leon Alla, a defense spokesman for Alassane Ouattara, said pro-Ouattara forces took control of Bouafle early Wednesday and Sinfra on Tuesday. Both are west of the capital, Yamoussoukro. Earlier this week the rebels took three towns further to the west.

A spokesman for incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo called for a cease-fire and mediation. Spokesman Don Mello told Radio France Internationale the army has adopted a strategy of tactical withdrawal. He warned, however, that Gbagbo's forces could use their "legitimate right of defense."

Asked about the cease-fire offer, a Ouattara ally said it was necessary to resort to legitimate force.

"President Alassane Ouattara was patient and gave Mr. Laurent Gbagbo every possibility to leave power peacefully. He refused every offer made to him," Ivory Coast's ambassador to France, Ali Coulibaly, said on French radio France Inter Wednesday.

Over the past few days, rebels fighting to install Ouattara have advanced east toward the center of the country. On Tuesday they claimed to have seized the major cities of Duekoue and Daloa and the town of Boundoukou.

Highways from Daloa lead south to the port of San Pedro, which could be used to resupply the rebels who do not currently have access to the sea, and east to Yamassoukro.

Ivory Coast's key city is its commercial capital, Abidjan, which is divided up into pro- and anti-Gbagbo neighborhoods.

The international community and Ivory Coast's electoral commission say Ouattara won the November presidential election. But Gbagbo refuses to give up power. More than 1 million people have fled the fighting caused by political chaos and at least 462 people have been killed since the election.

Ouattara, who is from northern Ivory Coast, had long tried to distance himself from the rebels based there who fought in a brief civil war almost a decade ago that left the country split in two. However, rebels have been stepping up their offensive to install him in power in recent weeks.

Those efforts had been largely contained to the country's west and northern Abidjan, though the latest advances this week indicate the rebels' presence is now widespread through the West African country, which is the world's largest cocoa producer.

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Associated Press writers Rukmini Callimachi in Bamako, Mali and Greg Keller in Paris contributed to this report.