Almost 82,000 have fled Ivory Coast crisis, watchdog says

Feb 11, 2011, 16:48 GMT

Nairobi - Almost 82,000 people have fled their homes in Ivory Coast since disputed presidential elections in November sparked a violent political crisis, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said Friday.

The United Nations says over 270 people have died in the standoff, which was caused when both President Laurent Gbagbo and his internationally-recognized rival Alassane Ouattara claimed election victory.

'The longer the crisis continues, the greater the potential for a mass population movement,' said Eugenio Ambrosi, IOM Director General's Special Envoy to Ivory Coast and neighbouring countries. 'Past experience dictates that we have to be ready to deal with another migration crisis in the region.'

November's election was supposed to help the nation move forward from a 2002 civil war that split the country into the Christian-majority south, which backs Gbagbo, and the mainly Muslim north, from where Ouattara draws his power base.

Instead, the West African nation was plunged into violence when a Gbagbo ally on the constitutional council overturned electoral commission results declaring Ouattara the winner.

Neither domestic pressure nor a range of international sanctions have budged the strongman leader, who was this week accused of launching a clampdown on local media.

Gbagbo has replaced the head of the independent National Press Council (CNP) with his allies and withdrawn the permit of the United Nations radio station ONUCI FM, the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders said Thursday.

'Given the political affiliation of the people co-opted by the Gbagbo camp to replace its leadership, we fear the CNP will ... henceforth be used to punish opposition journalists and media harshly, and to protect media that are loyal to Gbagbo,' Reporters Without Borders secretary general Jean-Francois Julliard said.

The UN peacekeeping mission ONUCI, which has already defied orders by Gbagbo to leave the country, said Thursday it was continuing to broadcast as normal.

An African Union panel made of up five heads of state is later this month due to set out a new course of action aimed at resolving the long-running stalemate.