Gbagbo forces attack U.N. vehicles in Ivory Coast

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110113/wl_nm/us_ivorycoast

Gbagbo forces attack U.N. vehicles in Ivory Coast

By Ange Aboa and Louis Charbonneau Ange Aboa And Louis Charbonneau – Thu Jan 13,

5:44 pm ET

ABIDJAN/UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – Forces loyal to t Gbagbo began

attacking and burning U.N. vehicles in Ivory Coast on Thursday as tensions

escalated between Gbagbo and the world body, which recognizes his rival as

president.

The world's top cocoa grower has been locked in a violent power struggle since a

November 28 election that both Gbagbo and his rival, Alassane Ouattara, claim to

have won. The United Nations says Ouattara won the vote, but Gbagbo, who took

power in 2000, has rejected the U.N.-certified tally.

In Geneva, U.N. human rights chief Navi Pillay said armed forces were blocking

access to a site near the central town of Daloa where a mass grave had been

reported, as they had already been accused of doing at sites in and around

Abidjan.

U.N. spokesman Nesirky said in a statement that Secretary-General Ban

Ki-moon was " deeply concerned that regular and irregular forces loyal to Mr.

Gbagbo have begun to attack and burn United Nations vehicles. "

" Beginning this morning, there have been a total of six incidents involving such

attacks in Abidjan where a UNOCI military vehicle was burned, " he said,

referring to the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Ivory Coast.

There was also a stone-throwing attack on an ambulance in which the driver and

doctor were injured, U.N. officials said.

'ANGRY MOBS'

U.N. officials told Reuters privately the situation in Abidjan was becoming

increasingly tense and confrontational. They say that Gbagbo's forces have

shifted their tactics away from military confrontations and are now encouraging

crowds of people to attack UNOCI vehicles instead.

That has made it increasingly difficult for UNOCI, which has some 10,000 troops

and police in Ivory Coast, to respond to the attacks, since it does not want to

injure civilians.

" Gbagbo's setting angry mobs loose on UNOCI, " a U.N. diplomat said. " If they

fire into a crowd, all hell will break loose. "

U.N. officials said they were concerned that Gbagbo was trying to provoke UNOCI

into firing on civilians in order to spark a massive backlash that would force

UNOCI to withdraw.

Gbagbo ordered UNOCI out of Ivory Coast last month, but the United Nations has

refused to recognize his authority to make such decisions. The U.N. Security

Council was expected to approve a 2,000-troop increase for UNOCI on Friday, but

diplomats said the vote had been postponed until next week.

The November election was meant to heal a nation divided into a government-held

south and a rebel-run north by a 2002-2003 civil war, but has instead only

deepened divisions.

Gbagbo controls the security forces and allied militias, which U.N. officials

suspect of rights abuses. The stand-off has sent cocoa prices to four-month

highs in recent weeks.

REPORTS OF MASS GRAVE

In Washington, U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said the United

States was increasingly concerned about " the Gbagbo regime inciting violence

against the United Nations " and added, " We strongly condemn interference " with

its work.

In a gesture of support for Ouattara, the State Department said it accepted his

choice to be the Ivory Coast's ambassador to the United States, whom he did not

identify.

Pillay told Reuters in Geneva about reports of a third mass grave in Ivory Coast

that is off-limits to U.N. personnel.

" I am very concerned now that a third mass grave has been discovered, " she said.

" Not only my representative there but the U.N. representative has not been

allowed access to the mass graves. "

The United Nations suspects many of the dead were killed by pro-Gbagbo security

forces or allied militias in night-time raids on neighborhoods, with hundreds

more abducted.

Gbagbo's camp has repeatedly dismissed reports of mass graves and " death squads "

as fabrications by Ouattara allies.

U.N. officials say they are concerned about ethnic clashes in western Ivory

Coast that have resulted in dozens of deaths.

U.N. aid chief Amos warned of a potential humanitarian crisis. She said

in a statement the recent violence had caused a 10-fold increase in the number

of internal refugees in Ivory Coast, showing " how quickly a political crisis can

have grave humanitarian consequences. "

Over 200 people have died in violence since the vote, and fears of more conflict

have prompted more than 20,000 people to flee into neighboring Liberia,

according to U.N. figures.

Clashes in Abidjan between security forces loyal to Gbagbo and supporters of

Ouattara killed six policemen and some civilians on Wednesday. Five died in

another clash on Tuesday.

Gbagbo's Interior Ministry said some of the police who died in Wednesday's

clashes had been killed when their vehicle was attacked with rocket-propelled

grenades. Ouattara's camp said Gbagbo's forces had killed at least seven

civilians.

Underlining the growing tensions between Gbagbo supporters and UNOCI, pro-Gbagbo

students attacked and burned a U.N. pickup truck in Abidjan on Thursday in one

of the incidents Nesirky referred to in his statement.

" It's an opportunity for us to show that with our bare hands we can also take

action, " Max Amani, a student, said. " Each day we hear shooting in Abobo we will

burn 10 UNOCI cars, " he said as others jumped up and down on the burned-out

vehicle.

Reuters witnesses saw a dozen armored vehicles ferrying troops with automatic

weapons on patrol in the northern and largely pro-Ouattara neighborhoods of

Abobo and Ayaman.

Soldiers manned makeshift checkpoints to control traffic.

" The people still live in fear in Abobo, " resident Ladji Bakayoko said.

(Additional reporting by Tim Cocks and Loucoumane Coulibaly in Abidjan; Editing

by Simao and Cooney)

[Guest guest]

Nothing new, sad to say. That whole coast is a basket case of corruption and fighting over the wealth created by resources. The people there know all this but they are poor and unarmed and can't do anything about it. Aside from that, all the power seekers are equally corrupt, so replacing them makes little difference.

Just be watching for coco prices to go up the longer this goes on.

In a message dated 1/14/2011 12:34:17 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, no_reply writes:

Gbagbo forces attack U.N. vehicles in Ivory Coast