A convoy of nearly 900 Ivorian civilians is stranded near the rebel-held city of Man in western Ivory Coast because of fighting in the region, a humanitarian source told AFP.
Siaka Kone Fabio of Development Community International said his association was escorting civilians fleeing the western Touba region towards central Daloa and southern Abidjan, the west African country’s main city, but that the rebels’ recapture of Man last week had thwarted their efforts.
”It wasn’t the rebels blocking them. It was because of fighting in the region that these people cannot advance any more,” he said.
Kone said 871 people were blocked at Biankouma, 80 kilometres north of Man, ”fending for themselves, with no real food, while most of the children in the group have already fallen ill.”
Kone, who was in Bamako, capital of neighboring Mali, to seek international aid, had meetings at the Ivorian embassy here and with a World Health Organisation (WHO) official.
He said he was ”desperate” to help the fleeing Ivorians. ”I wonder how to get them out of this hornets’ nest,” he said.
Ivory Coast, the world’s top cocoa producer, has been split in two since an army uprising on September 19, with rebels holding the north and key western parts of the country. – Sapa-AFP