At the top of a tarred road in this tense Abidjan district, forces loyal to internationally recognised president Alassane Ouattara man a roadblock.
At the other end, troops backing strongman Laurent Gbagbo stand guard.
In between lie two bodies, the latest casualties of a bloody stand-off between the rival camps.
“We don’t know how this story is going to finish,” said a worried young man seeking relief from a blazing sun in the shade of a shack.
Coming from downtown Abidjan, the road leads to Plateau-Dokui in the south of Abobo, a populous suburb which is home to 1,5-million people and is an Ouattara stronghold.
Located at the entry of Côte d’Ivoire’s economic capital Abidjan, Abobo can be considered a microcosm of the West African country, where all of its many ethnic groups co-exist.
On Saturday, Gbagbo’s security forces stormed into Abobo aboard armoured vehicles to dislodge Ouattara loyalists who are up in arms over Gbagbo’s refusal to cede power even though he lost the November 28 presidential election, according to the international community.
Witnesses said the heavy shelling left between 10 and 12 dead.
‘Crazy’ to live in this suburb
Gbagbo’s show of force comes as international sanctions tighten the noose on his disputed regime and observers raise the spectre of civil war after 10 years of political turmoil that has devastated the world’s top cocoa producer — once seen as one of Africa’s economic miracles.
Up the street, there are barricades of tyres and overturned tables ahead of the Samanke crossroad where stern-looking youths keep watch.
“There was shooting” from noon until early evening on Saturday,” one of them said.
“It was scary, everyone stayed at home. It will start again, that’s why everyone is leaving.”
A few metres away an entire family, women as well as youngsters, loaded bags full to bursting on board three taxis before piling in.
Further on, a pick-up truck groans under the weight of a couch, mattress and baggage.
The atmosphere is heavy with tension. The mish-mash of low-rise buildings, shops and typical Abidjan eateries are closed.
The rare pedestrians cast suspicious glances as they move down the street.
It is “crazy” to live in this suburb, says a man in his twenties, pointing to bullet holes on walls nearby.
The body of a man identified as Coulibaly lies at the corner of an adjacent alley. He worked in a nearby carpentry, says a resident. “He was among people who fled when armoured vehicles open fire”. – AFP