A blockade of the hotel where Ivory Coast presidential claimant Alassane Ouattara is holed up is turning into a humanitarian issue, France's ambassador in the country said in a newspaper interview published on Tuesday. A spokesman for Ouattara's camp said however that the restrictions around the U.N.-guarded Golf Hotel, in Abidjan's plush Riviera neighbourhood, had eased somewhat. Ambassador Jean-Marc Simon was quoted by daily Le Parisien as saying: "Access is prohibited for all vehicles, which poses a problem for supplies, medicines and maintenance of the hotel. It has become a humanitarian issue." Ivory Coast's November 28 presidential election was intended to heal the scars of a 2002-03 civil war but instead triggered a standoff between incumbent Laurent Gbagbo and Ouattara, with the latter recognised as victor by the outside world. Ouattara's eight-point poll victory was overturned on grounds of alleged fraud by the Constitutional Council, a top legal body led by a staunch ally of Gbagbo. Gbagbo is now subject to sanctions by the European Union, which includes former colonial ruler France. Allies of Ouattara, including the prime minister of his parallel administration Guillaume Soro, are based at the Golf. Ouattara is also presumed to be there although his presence has not been confirmed in recent days. Patrick Achi, a spokesman for Ouattara's government, told Reuters on Tuesday that access restrictions had tightened late last week after a protest march but subsequently eased a bit. "For several days after we had the march (on Thursday), they started blocking the whole thing ... But since then they loosened up and they stopped blocking so things are okay now," he said, adding that food, water and medical supplies had been hit. "We have enough supplies. The U.N. have helicopters if need be," he said. "We are more concerned about our people out there in the streets, who are being killed." U.N. mission chief Y.J. Choi said on Monday that Gbagbo's camp began reinforcing checkpoints set up at the access road to the Golf Hotel from December 16. The checkpoints were disrupting access to food and water supply trucks to the Golf Hotel. Source: Reuters