NEARLY 500 people were killed during Ivory Coast’s political and ethnic clashes last week, a local human rights group said. Quoting a police source, the Ivorian Movement for Human Rights (MIDH) said at least 1 000 people had been seriously hurt during mass protests which chased army ruler General Robert Guei from power and political and ethnic clashes which followed. It denounced the killing of dozens of people, believed to be northeners, whose bodies were found on open ground on the outskirts of the main city Abidjan and warned against the risk of ethnic cleansing. – Reuters