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The prime minister of Ivory Coast's internationally recognized president, Alassane Ouattara, has said the time is right for a "rapid offensive" against the country's main city, Abidjan.
Guillaume Soro said days of clashes in the city had sown panic among troops loyal to incumbent Laurent Gbagbo.
Many residents are trapped indoors without food, water and electricity.
Earlier, the UN urged Ouattara to investigate hundreds of deaths blamed partly on his supporters in Duekoue.
The UN recognized Ouattara as president after a run-off vote in November, but Gbagbo also claimed victory and refused to quit.
Looting and shooting
The BBC's Andrew Harding says pro-Ouattara troops have been massing just outside Abidjan amid confident talk of a final push, although they have been saying that for days.
The streets remain largely deserted, he adds, with residents occasionally venturing out to brave bullets and looters in search of water, now cut off in parts of the city.
A spokesman for the UN mission in Ivory Coast (Unoci) said there had been shooting near the presidential palace, where Gbagbo was believed to be staying, protected by the Republican Guard and special forces personnel.
A source in Ouattara's Republican forces said there had been a relative lull in the fighting while reinforcements arrived from the country's north.
Soro announced on Sunday evening that they had surrounded Abidjan, and there was panic among Gbagbo's troops.
"The situation is now ripe for a rapid offensive," he told Ouattara's television station, TCI.
"The operation will be rapid because we have discovered the exact number of operational tanks on the ground. Ivorians must trust in the Republican forces."
'French occupation'
Meanwhile, there were unconfirmed reports that Gbagbo's Chief of Defense Staff, Gen Philippe Mangou, had resumed his duties.
He was said to have left the South African ambassador's residence, where he took refuge after defecting to Ouattara's side last week.
Ouattara's forces captured most of the country after mounting a major offensive a week ago.
But the battle for Abidjan has been much harder in a city where Gbagbo draws much of his support.
The BBC's John James in the central city of Bouake says pro-Gbagbo state television has become notably fiercer in the last 24 hours.
Accusations have been broadcast that French peacekeepers were an "occupying force" intent on carrying out genocide.
People have been urged to come out and form a human shield around Gbagbo's residence.
The French have taken control of Abidjan airport from the UN mission and added 300 more soldiers to their 1,100-strong force.
The French military say the aim is to allow commercial flights to resume so foreign citizens can be evacuated.
France's peacekeepers have been in Ivory Coast since the country's civil war, which began in 2002 and ended two years later.
UN peacekeepers are protecting tens of thousands of civilians who have taken refuge in the compound of a church in the western town of Duekoue.
The UN says more than 330 people died last week as Ouattara's forces took over the town.
More than 100 of them were killed by Gbagbo's troops, it adds.
The BBC's Andrew Harding says many homes in Duekoue have been razed, and the situation is much worse than if an army had simply moved through it.
Ouattara's officials blamed the deaths on fighting between local militias, and said he would welcome an international inquiry.
PHOTO CAPTION
Pro- Ouattara forces prepare to head to the frontline in Abidjan, 2 April, 2011.
BBC
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