Gbagbo forces opened fire on peacekeepers, says UN

Jan 18, 2011, 15:39 GMT

Nairobi/Abidjan - Troops loyal to Ivory Coast's defiant leader Laurent Gbagbo opened fire on United Nations peacekeepers charged with providing security for an African Union envoy, the UN said Tuesday.

The UN peacekeeping mission in Ivory Coast (UNOCI) said units awaiting the arrival of Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga outside a hotel in the economic capital Abidjan came under attack on Monday evening.

'A group of youths from the camp of President Gbagbo encircled the blue helmets' units,' UNOCI spokesman Kenneth Blackman said in a statement. 'Armed units which were supporting them (the youth) opened fire in the direction of the vehicles, obliging the UNOCI troops to respond with warning shots in the air.'

No casualties were reported.

The incident was the latest in a string of attacks on peacekeepers as anger grows at the UN for backing Gbagbo's rival Alassane Ouattara - the man the majority of the world views as Ivory Coast's rightful president.

Since UNOCI defied Gbagbo's order for the mission and French troops supporting it to leave, peacekeeping vehicles have been set on fire and UN staff harassed.

Blackman repeated allegations that Gbagbo and his allies, through state television channel RTI, were inciting hatred against UNOCI and said the mission 'deplored the repeated acts of aggression committed by a part of the population.'

The UN Security Council is Tuesday due to vote on sending an extra 2,000 troops to Ivory Coast to bolster the forces there. If enacted, UNOCI would have close to 12,000 peacekeepers on the ground.

Ivory Coast was plunged into a violent crisis when a Gbagbo ally on the constitutional council overturned electoral commission results handing victory in November's presidential elections to Ouattara - who is now trying to run an alternative government from the UN- protected Golf Hotel in Abidjan.

Almost 250 people have died in the violence, according to the UN, and Gbagbo's security forces stand accused of extrajudicial killings and excessive force.

Odinga, who was in Ivory Coast for a second time as diplomatic efforts to persuade Gbagbo to stand aside continue, called his Monday meeting with the president 'useful.'

Previous visits from Odinga and heads of state representing West African bloc ECOWAS have failed to convince the leader to hand over power.

ECOWAS has said it could use force should Gbagbo not step down, but this threat has been undermined by Ghana ruling out sending troops and analysts pointing out Nigeria may also be reticent to deploy in the face of its own imminent presidential election.

Gbagbo and his allies are also resisting travel bans and asset freezes from the United States and Britain, as well as cuts to aid from development banks.

November's elections were supposed to open a more positive chapter in Ivory Coast's history eight years after civil war split the world's biggest cocoa producer into the mainly Muslim north, which backs Ouattara, and the Christian south, where Gbagbo holds sway.

The UN refugee agency says around 30,000 Ivorians have fled the country, fearing a return to civil war. At least 16,000 are displaced internally, according to the International Organization for Migration.

Humanitarian agencies have appealed for 87.5 million dollars to support those fleeing, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said Tuesday.