A bewildered old man in a hotel room, stripped to his vest and surrounded by strangers. These were the first pictures that emerged of Laurent Gbagbo after he was forced blinking into the light yesterday by a thunderous French assault on his Abidjan bunker that ended with him being handed over to his nemesis, Alassane Ouattara.
News of his capture crackled across this lagoon city, which has been transformed into a looted wasteland by the 65-year-old's refusal to cede power. As people who have been living with the boom of heavy weapons dared to hope that the worst was over, a shout rang out: "Gbagbo fini!"
