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April 9, 2011
UN human rights workers found more than 100 bodies in 24 hours as Ivory Coast’s rebellious president Laurent Gbagbo returned to power in Abidjan.
Alain Le Roy, the head of UN peacekeeping operations, said Gbagbo’s forces were using the peace talks as a pretext to consolidate their position.
He said that during a pause in fighting on Tuesday, Gbagbo’s forces had retaken terrain and were now in full control of the plateau and Cocodi regions.
Meanwhile, French officials said the president’s troops opened fire on the French ambassador’s residence, sparking a counterattack from Ivory Coast’s former colonial power.
Gbagbo, who has refused to hand over power to Ouattara despite UN-certified results showing he lost November’s election, remains isolated in a bunker beneath his official residence in Abidjan to avoid a coordinated attack by Ouattara’s forces.
Just three days ago, his defeat seemed certain and the two sides began negotiations. Mr. Leroy said on Friday that fighting was continuing but at a stalemate.
Special report: Ivory Coast - a divided nation
“We have seen heavy weapons being moved into the Cocody area, including this morning,” he said.
Gbagbo’s adviser Toussaint Allan disputed the account, saying the French airstrikes were authorized by the United Nations and had destroyed all of Gbagbo’s heavy weapons earlier this week. He also denied that the French ambassador’s residence had been attacked.
“France is just looking for an excuse to remove President Laurent Gbagbo,” Alain told Reuters.
Fighting Back
Mr Gbagbo’s resurgence has been highlighted by his RTI television station, which has resumed broadcasting appeals for support after being silent since fighting broke out in Abidjan earlier this week.
“The Gbagbo regime still rules and the people need strong mobilization,” the statement said.
Gbagbo has ruled Ivory Coast since 2000 with a presidential guard and youth militia of about 1,000 soldiers charged with protecting his regime, but Ouattara’s allies say he has also armed civilians.
Mr. Ouattara has been staying at the Golf Hotel since the November 28, 2010 elections, which were aimed at ending the 2002-2003 civil war that split the world’s largest cocoa producer in two.
Le Roy said Gbagbo’s troops were closing in on the building, which was guarded by the United Nations. “As we speak, they may be very close to the Golf Hotel,” he said.
Witnesses said French helicopters attacked Gbagbo’s residence in the evening, hours after his troops attacked the nearby French envoy’s residence.
Frédéric Daguillon, a spokesman for French forces in Ivory Coast, said mortar shells fired by Gbagbo’s militants landed within the compound but caused no damage.
Cocody residents later said the situation had calmed down.
Reports of atrocities since his army, made up of former rebels from the north, marched into Abidjan in the south more than a week ago threaten to undermine Ouattara’s ability to unify the West African nation.
Body
The United Nations human rights office said Friday that 115 bodies had been found in the west in the past 24 hours, while aid groups had reported a death toll of 800 last week.
Some victims were burned alive, others thrown into wells, a chilling reminder of the country’s ethnic and religious divisions, reflecting the divisions between Mr. Gbagbo, whose traditional power base is in the Christian south, and Mr. Ouattara’s Muslim forces, which are mainly based in the north.
Ouattara’s forces have denied carrying out the massacres, but human rights groups say there is evidence that while Gbagbo’s forces have committed most of the atrocities since the standoff began four months ago, Ouattara’s soldiers have also been responsible for indiscriminate violence against civilians.
As more killings came to light, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay condemned a series of vicious attacks on civilians. “The reports coming back from the UN human rights team in Côte d’Ivoire are shocking,” she said. “They are finding more bodies every day.”
Aid workers estimate that one million people have been displaced by the fighting and that around 150,000 have fled the country.
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