Who is Laurent Gbagbo

Laurent Gbagbo is a classically educated academic turned opposition leader, now seen as just another African leader destroying his country by refusing to accept defeat at the ballot box.

Gbagbo's History

    * 1971: Jailed for "subversive teaching"
    * 1982: Exile in Paris after union activism
    * 1988: Returns to Ivory Coast
    * 1990: Defeated in elections
    * 1992: Jailed after student protests
    * 2000: Declared winner of disputed elections
    * 2002: Failed coup divides Ivory Coast
    * 2007: Agrees power-sharing government with former rebels
    * 2010: Elections held five years later. Refuses to go after UN says he lost

After 20 years in opposition, he came to power in 2000, when military leader Robert Guei's attempts to rig elections were defeated by street protests by Mr Gbagbo's supporters in the main city, Abidjan.

Now, he is the one clinging to power after an election dispute and security forces loyal to him accused of firing at unarmed demonstrators in Abidjan.

Mr Gbagbo cut his political teeth in the trade union movement and he plays heavily on his reputation as the main opposition figure to former President Felix Houphouet-Boigny's one-party state.

He started out on the political left, but since the 1980s he has taken a strongly nationalist, even xenophobic, stance.

'Change your glasses'

Mr Gbagbo says the dispute is about a fight for Ivorian (and indeed African) sovereignty and accuses the French and Americans of having it in for him.

Ivory Coast is the nation blessed by God and neo-colonialists want to control it for its cocoa and oil fields, he says.

However, this ploy has not succeeded and the African Union has backed the UN's finding that Mr Gbagbo lost the November 2010 election and he should stand down.

He was accused of surfing on the wave of xenophobia which swept Ivory Coast during the rule of President Henri Konan Bedie.

Mr Bedie introduced the concept of "Ivoirite" (Ivorianness) to prevent Alassane Ouattara, a Muslim from the north, from standing in presidential elections in the 1990s.

Mr Gbagbo denied allegations of opportunism. "I have not changed," he said at the time. "You must change your glasses."

It now looks like Mr Ouattara, the UN-recognised winner of November's election, could have the last laugh, as his forces close in on the presidential palace in Abidjan.

Since the 2002 civil war broke out, Mr Gbagbo's supporters have been accused of carrying out xenophobic attacks in the areas they control - against those from the mainly Muslim north, immigrants from neighbouring African countries and Westerners.

They accused former colonial power France and the international community of not doing enough to put down the rebellion.

'Cicero'

Laurent Gbagbo was born into a Catholic family near Gagnoa, in the cocoa-growing centre-west of the country, nearly 60 years ago.

"Cicero", as he was nicknamed because of his taste for Latin during his schooldays, has a PhD in history.

Beginning his career as a university lecturer, Mr Gbagbo was jailed for two years in 1971 for "subversive" teaching. His nom de guerre was "little brother".

In the 1980s he was involved in trade union activity among academics.

He was one of the first to challenge Ivory Coast's founding President Houphouet-Boigny in the 1980s, as soon as the long-serving independence leader permitted multi-party politics.

In 1982 he sought exile in Paris, returning six years later to attend the founding congress of the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI).

His time as an opposition leader led to spells in jail and brushes with the authorities.

His wife, Simone, is a powerful politician in her own right and some see her as the real hardline power behind the throne, preventing her husband from giving up power.

The couple have two daughters.

'Good company'

After his election in 2000, Mr Gbagbo said he would break with the personality cult tradition, saying it was no longer necessary to put up portraits of the president in public places and offices.

He also said that the national media would no longer be obliged to mention the president in all news programmes.

But while he was in power, most news broadcasts highlight Mr Gbagbo's daily activities.

He has a reputation for being short-tempered, in particular against "arrogant" journalists, but he is also known for his contagious laughs and vigorous handshakes.

In person he has a broad smile and an easy laugh, and is a born communicator, frequently making use of metaphors from Ivorian daily life.

He is said to have a passion for music, guitar and good food.

"It is a pleasure to have him round for dinner," one of his friends was quoted as saying in Jeune Afrique-L'Intelligent magazine.

Still, the man who campaigned under the slogan "we win or we win", can be a stubborn political player and, his opponents claim, has links to violent militia groups like the students' union, the Fesci, the Young Patriots, and death squads, despite his reputation as a peaceful, Sorbonne-educated socialist.

The UN blames his militias for the worst violence against civilians.

He has also earned himself the nickname "the baker" for his ability to "roll his opponents in the flour", after showing an uncanny knack of coming out on top in any political tussle.

But he may now have met his match.