Ivory Coast's Laurent Gbagbo has not surrendered yet but has suggested he wants to do so and has requested United Nations protection, a UN official has told Reuters news agency.
'He (Gbagbo) has not surrendered, but has expressed a willingness to surrender and has asked for UN protection,' a UN official said on condition of anonymity.
He added that negotiations with Mr Gbagbo's officials in Abidjan continue.
However, Mr Gbagbo later said that the army had called for a ceasefire but denied reports he was ready to surrender and reiterated that he considered himself the winner of last November's elections.
‘The army has called for the suspension of hostilities ... and it is currently discussing the conditions of a ceasefire with the other forces on the ground, but on a political level no decision has yet been taken,’ Mr Gbagbo said in a telephone interview with France's LCI television.
Mr Gbagbo said the discussion over who won last year's elections continued and he said face-to-face talks with UN-recognised President Alassane Ouattara was the only way to return the Ivory Coast to peace.
Mr Gbagbo was negotiating his departure following a fierce assault by forces loyal to his presidential rival backed by UN and French helicopter air strikes.
Troops loyal to Mr Ouattara say they have surrounded his compound in Abidjan.
Mr Gbagbo had refused to step aside as the country's president since an election last November.
The election standoff has rekindled the West African country's civil war of 2002-2003.
More than 1,500 people have been killed since the violence began five months ago.
