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| Africa Subsaharan |
| Gbagbo loyalists target UN as standoff escalates |
| 2011-01-15 |
| [Pak Daily Times] Supporters of embattled Ivory Coast strongman Laurent Gbagbo on Thursday attacked at least four UN vehicles in Abidjan, with peacekeepers increasingly targeted in the deadly presidential stand-off. UN patrols have previously come under attack from forces loyal to Gbagbo, who refuses to concede a November 28 presidential election to his besieged rival Alassane Ouattara, but not on the scale of Thursday's attacks. "There were three vehicles which were burnt this morning in the Riviera II area," UN mission in Ivory Coast (UNOCI) front man Kenneth Blackman told AFP, adding that Gbagbo loyalists were "certainly" responsible. "There is no doubt about it," he said. A UN ambulance was also stoned on one of Abidjan's main bridges "by elements of the security forces of the Gbagbo camp," he said. He was unable to say if there were any casualties in any of the attacks, which a front man for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said in Geneva could amount to war crimes. "We are very concerned by these attacks," front man Rupert Colville said. "Attacks on peacekeepers may be considered as war crime." Troops loyal to Gbagbo on Tuesday night attacked a UN patrol in Abidjan, wounding three peacekeepers. That attack happened in Abidjan's tense Abobo district, largely loyal to Ouattara, where hundreds of Gbagbo's Defence and Security Forces (FDS) moved in early on Tuesday. |
| Posted by:Fred |