Heavy fighting broke out in western Côte d’Ivoire on Wednesday hours after internationally recognised president Alassane Ouattara offered his rival Laurent Gbagbo a last chance to peacefully quit power.
In the strategic western town of Duekoue, gunfire rang out shortly before dawn as forces loyal to Ouattara attacked those backing incumbent president Gbagbo in a battle for control of the region.
“We were attacked by a group of rebels. We were able to push them back. They attacked with heavy weapons, launch-rockets, but the situation is calm now,” said a pro-Gbagbo military source.
No death toll was available after days of fresh fighting in a crisis that the United Nations estimated last week had seen nearly 400 killed since a disputed election that was aimed at ending a decade of political turmoil.
Fighters of the former rebel group New Forces, allied with Ouattara, have held the north of this former French colony since a 2002 civil war.
In recent weeks they have seized control of much of the west bordering Liberia in a push south into traditional Gbagbo strongholds. Their old frontline is about 40km north of Duekoue.
In Abijdan, religious leaders confirmed that an imam was killed outside a mosque after being hit by what is believed to be a stray bullet.
And a UN clinic in Abidjan received 18 people, including three women and a baby, who were wounded by a grenade thrown by unidentified individuals in Attecoube, which borders the central plateau district, a UN statement said.
Bloody tug-of-war
As the political crisis deepened in the world’s top cocoa producer, the UN mission in Côte d’Ivoire on Wednesday urged an immediate end to violence.
The mission said in a statement that it was “imperative to put an end, immediately, to this escalation of violence that jeopardises peace, social cohesion and national reconciliation.”
In a television address, Ouattara on Tuesday urged Gbagbo to relinquish power and end the bloody tug-of-war in the best interests of the country.
“It is time that he accepts the will of the Ivorian people and the African Union,” Ouattara said.
The African Union last week endorsed Ouattara’s election win, a move rejected by Gbagbo aides.
“He must understand that for him and those close to him it is his last chance to make a peaceful and honourable exit from the crisis,” Ouattara said.
‘Crime against humanity’
Meanwhile an in-depth investigation by New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) warned that organised violence by pro-Gbagbo forces may amount to “crimes against humanity”.
It said fighters backing Ouattara were also guilty of atrocities against civilians.
“The time is long overdue for the UN Security Council to impose sanctions against Gbagbo and his allies directly implicated in the grave abuses of the post-election period,” said HRW Africa director Daniel Beke.
“The international community should also send a clear message to Ouattara’s camp that reprisal killings will place them next on the list.”
Ouattara has been running his government from Abidjan’s posh Golf Hotel where he has been holed up since late last year, under the protection of peacekeepers and his supporters and besieged by pro-Gbagbo troops.
Abidjan has been the scene of heavy fighting over the past few days as pro-Gbagbo troops fended off a bid by Ouattara fighters to move south into the central district where the presidential palace is located.
Terrified residents have fled their homes with whatever possessions they can grab.
According to the UN refugee agency, almost half-a-million people are already displaced by the fighting in Côte d’Ivoire, about 90 000 to Liberia.
The EU emergency aid commissioner plans to pump an extra €30-million into helping hundreds of thousands of people fleeing the violence, an official said in Brussels on Wednesday. — AFP