Battle for Abidjan Rages on in Ivory Coast

 

Julia Ritchey | Dakar April 03, 2011

Fighting between forces loyal to Ivory Coast's rival presidents continued for a fourth day in Abidjan, as French troops took control of the city's airport.

Embattled incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo clung to power yet another day Sunday, while sporadic gunfire was heard on the mostly deserted streets of Abidjan.

France said it has sent in additional troops and secured the airport with U.N. peacekeeping forces, as it continues to shelter more than a thousand foreign nationals at a camp outside the city.

Abidjan has been in lockdown since forces loyal to Gbagbo's rival, Alassane Ouattara, infiltrated the city Thursday and began a final effort to remove Gbagbo from office.

Gbagbo has rejected all demands to step down since Ouattara was declared the winner of Ivory Coast's November presidential election.

The incumbent leader is still drawing support from a band of loyal forces, including the Young Patriots, a youth arm known for its use of violence and fiery rhetoric.

"At the cost of our blood, we are going to die so that the republic survives, for our children," said an armed member of the group, who identified himself as General La Poudriere.

But the deputy chief of staff of Ouattara's Republican Forces said he was not shaken by such talk.

"It's not the young patriots who worry us," he said. "They're not an army. They are all words."

For now, the Young Patriots are protecting the presidential palace and state television, which broadcast footage of Gbagbo as well as pleas for additional forces to back him.

Human rights groups are urging both sides to avoid civilian casualties. Their warnings came after a grisly report from the Red Cross and Catholic charity Caritas, saying between 800 and 1,000 people were massacred in western Ivory Coast last week. The bodies were found in an town that rebel forces had captured, though it was not clear who was culpable.

In an interview last week, a spokesman for the U.N. Human Rights Office, Rupert Colville, said it appears some of Ouattara's forces may have been involved in abuses.

“Again it's not particularly surprising," said Colville. "You've got armed forces moving through the country with battles going on in various places, but some of the people on his side appear to be stepping way beyond the bounds of what's acceptable.”

Colville warned that both sides will be held accountable for any violations of international humanitarian law.

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Ivory Coast: French forces take over Abidjan airport

Right: Incumbent Laurent Gbagbo’s “young patriots” cross the river in boats and head towards Abidjan’s city centre

France has sent extra troops to Ivory Coast’s main city, Abidjan, and taken control of its airport.

A French military spokesman told the BBC there was a security vacuum as forces formerly loyal to incumbent Laurent Gbagbo changed sides.

Fighting continues between Mr Gbagbo’s troops and supporters of his rival, UN-recognised President Alassane Ouattara.

The city’s pro-Gbagbo TV station called for people to mobilise against the French ‘”occupation”.

Mr Ouattara’s forces are reported to be planning a further advance towards the presidential palace and have imposed a curfew on the city.

UN spokesman Hamadoun Toure told the BBC he had heard gunfire near the palace, adding that the situation was very tense.

[more at bbc.co.uk...]

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Ivory Coast: French forces take over Abidjan airport

Right: Incumbent Laurent Gbagbo’s “young patriots” cross the river in boats and head towards Abidjan’s city centre

France has sent extra troops to Ivory Coast’s main city, Abidjan, and taken control of its airport.

A French military spokesman told the BBC there was a security vacuum as forces formerly loyal to incumbent Laurent Gbagbo changed sides.

Fighting continues between Mr Gbagbo’s troops and supporters of his rival, UN-recognised President Alassane Ouattara.

The city’s pro-Gbagbo TV station called for people to mobilise against the French ‘”occupation”.

Mr Ouattara’s forces are reported to be planning a further advance towards the presidential palace and have imposed a curfew on the city.

UN spokesman Hamadoun Toure told the BBC he had heard gunfire near the palace, adding that the situation was very tense.

[more at bbc.co.uk...]

View the original article here

Thousands flee Abidjan as violence intensifies in Côte d'Ivoire – UN

 

22 March 2011 – Thousands of residents of Côte d’Ivoire’s commercial capital, Abidjan, have been flocking to bus stations seeking transport out of the city fearing that an all-out war is in the offing after an escalation of violence, the United Nations refugee agency reported today.

As many as 30 unarmed civilians were killed and 60 others were wounded when the market in Abidjan’s northern suburb of Abobo was attacked with mortar shells on Thursday, according to the UN peacekeeping mission in Côte d’Ivoire, which is known as UNOCI.

The shelling was carried out by members of the Ivorian Defense and Security Forces (FDSCI), who are loyal to former president Laurent Gbagbo, who lost a UN-certified and internationally recognized election to the opposition figure Alassane Ouattara last November, but has since refused to step down. Abobo is considered a stronghold of supporters of Mr. Ouattara.

During the weekend and on Monday, monitors with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) saw thousands of people trying to leave from Adjame and Yopougon bus terminals in Abidjan. Many families slept there in a desperate bid to secure seats in departing vehicles.

Some of those fleeing said they had decided to leave following an appeal on Saturday by the pro-Gbagbo youth leader, Charles Blé Goudé, who urged civilians to join the ranks of the armed forces. Thousands of youths have reportedly responded to the appeal, which those departing Abidjan have interpreted as a declaration of war.

The bus stations were already crowded with families seeking to leave Abidjan amid the intensifying violence. The cost of transportation has risen sharply, according to a humanitarian partner whose staff have received requests from internally displaced persons (IDPs) to help them leave Abidjan. An estimated 300,000 people in Abidjan are displaced, many of them former residents of Abobo.

Many IDPs are heading to the north and east of the country, and families who made it to those areas told UNHCR staff by telephone that the humanitarian situation there is becoming increasingly difficult for them and their hosts.

Meanwhile, UNHCR and its partners have completed setting up of the first IDP site in the western town of Danane. Over the weekend, 778 displaced people were relocated to the site from a nearby primary school. Two other IDP sites are being rehabilitated in Danane, where an estimated 5,000 people were displaced by violence earlier this year.

The Ivorian crisis has also affected some 24,000 Liberian refugees who have been living in Abidjan for nearly two decades. Some of them have signed up for repatriation to Liberia and the first UNHCR-organized airlift of 171 returnees took place on Saturday.

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