"He did not say he would lift the blockade on the Golf Hotel,” Gbagbo’s foreign minister Alcide Djedje said to RFI. “He said that he was ready to look at the conditions for lifting the blockade."

Security loyal to Gbagbo barred access to Ouattara’s headquarters at the Golf Hotel in Côte d’Ivoire’s economic capital Abidjan for the last three weeks. United Nations troops and New Forces soldiers have been protecting the hotel.

Ouattara said in an interview he preferred a peaceful solution to the crisis, but dismissed negotiating with incumbent Laurent Gbagbo.

He said Gbagbo was trying to buy time to recruit mercenaries to kill Ivorians and smuggle money out of the country.

The African Union’s mediator, Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga, said Wednesday that Gbagbo will be granted an amnesty if he steps aside peacefully. He said if Gbagbo decided to stay in Côte d'Ivoire, he would be allowed to go about his business normally.