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| Africa Subsaharan |
| Gbagbo camp rejects UN allegations |
| 2010-12-21 |
| Ivory Coast Interior Minister Emile Guirieoulou has rejected UN allegations of human rights ... which are not the same thing as individual rights, mind you... abuses, despite a barrage of criticism from the international community. Most of the victims of last week's violence in the streets of Abidjan were from loyalist security forces, Guirieoulou told news hounds at a presser on Monday and warned the United Nations, aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society not to deal with Alassane Ouattara's shadow government, which is calling for President Laurent Gbagbo to step down. On Sunday, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) Navi Pillay condemned human rights violations in the Ivory Coast, saying the post-election crisis in the country has claimed 50 lives and injured 200. Pillay also accused elements of the Defense and Security Forces (FDS) of supporting alleged night-time raids by kidnappers and death squads. In addition, the head of the UN mission in the Ivory Coast and the civilian chief of the 10,000-strong UNOCI (UN Operation in Cote d'Ivoire) peacekeeping force, Choi Young-jin, accused the FDS of harassing his troops and threatening international envoys. But Guirieoulou rejected both allegations and demanded that UNOCI leave the country. "It should not act against our will on our territory," AFP quoted him as saying. Meanwhile, ...back at the ranch... in New York, the UN Security Council warned that Gbagbo's camp could face new sanctions, and has renewed the six-month mandate of its peacekeeping mission in the Ivory Coast in defiance of the incumbent government's demand that the UN troops leave. On Monday, the White House repeated its call for Gbagbo to step down, and in Brussels the European Union took its first concrete steps, imposing visa bans on the 65-year-old, his powerful wife Simone, and 17 members of his inner circle. Gbagbo has refused to hand over power to Ouattara, who was recognized by the entire international community as the winner of the November 28 presidential election. Ouattara obtained 54 percent of the vote against Gbagbo's 46 percent, according to an announcement made by the Electoral Commission on December 2. But the pro-Gbagbo Constitutional Council rejected the results, and Gbagbo has remained in control of the country with the help of the army. |
| Posted by:Fred |