Ivory Coast rebels backing Alassane Ouattara, the internationally recognized winner of the Nov. 28 election, said they had seized four towns, gaining access to a highway leading to a main cocoa-exporting port.

The Republican Forces insurgents are planning to go move south to the port cities of San Pedro and Abidjan, the commercial capital, said Meite Sindou, spokesman for Guillaume Soro, the prime minister and defense minister appointed by Ouattara.

Ouattara draws support from the rebel group that has its roots in an uprising of mutinous military officers in 2002. Laurent Gbagbo, the incumbent who refuses to hand power to Ouattara, retains the loyalty of the security forces.

“Militarily, Gbagbo is weak,” said Rinaldo Depagne, a Dakar-based analyst for International Crisis Group. “If he wants to stay, he’s got to put all the forces he has in Abidjan and he’s got to try to stop the progression of rebels inside Abidjan. Inside the army you’ve got mass desertions and mass divisions.”. . .