/ 22 March 2011

UN in Côte d’Ivoire under fire as rival camps take aim

Un In Côte D'ivoire Under Fire As Rival Camps Take Aim

The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Côte d’Ivoire came under fire from rival camps on Tuesday as civilians bear the brunt of a bloody post-election dispute between presidential opponents.

On one side internationally recognised president Alassane Ouattara is pushing the mission, known as Unoci, to take stronger action to protect civilians, as the death toll in post-election clashes has risen to at least 440.

But the mission also faces a barrage of criticism from the camp of strongman Laurent Gbagbo, which has demanded it leave the country, accuses it of supporting Ouattara and regularly vilifies the force in state media as the “enemy of Côte d’Ivoire”.

The post-election violence will take centre stage at a summit on Wednesday and Thursday of the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas), which has in the past threatened military intervention against Gbagbo.

“Unoci is doing all it can, according to its mandate and resources, to protect the population. All Unoci resources are devoted to this work,” said spokesperson Hamadan Toure.

“The situation is uncomfortable. It shows each camp wants Unoci on its side [but] our military impartiality is rigorous,” he added.

Ouattara’s camp has strongly criticised the 10 000-strong force amid mounting clashes between fighters backing the rival leaders, as Gbagbo refuses to cede power.

“Given the magnitude and urgency of the situation … [Ouattara’s] government requests the Security Council to adopt a UN resolution to authorise the immediate use of legitimate force to protect civilians in imminent danger,” it said in a statement.

Awaiting reinforcement
About 500 000 people have been displaced as a result of the violence, according to the UN, which on Tuesday made an urgent appeal for funds, saying it was “unacceptable” to have received so little money in such a dire situation.

The Unoci mission has been in the country since 2004 and is awaiting reinforcement of 2 000 men, as decided by the UN Security Council.

But Gbagbo’s camp has demanded the departure of the UN peacekeeping mission as well as the French force, Licorne, which supports it.

“It is not Ouattara but the UN which is leading us to war,” said Charles Ble Goude, leader of the “Young Patriots”, Gbagbo’s most fervent and militant supporters, on Saturday.

The stinging attack by the pro-Gbagbo camp is an example of the daily barrage of anti-UN propaganda diffused on state television RTI.

It accuses Unoci of killing civilians, transporting “rebels” and delivering weapons while detailing the nationalities of West Africans who form part of the mission.

As a result, UN vehicles have been burned and its “blue helmets” targeted by Gbagbo supporters.

“At times we are witnessing extreme measures, such as peacekeepers being shot at, the kidnapping of Unoci staff, ransacking of their residences, hijacking of their cars,” the mission said in a statement.

Unoci has warned “those who invent and propagate hate stories” that their acts constitute war crimes, punishable by the International Court of Justice.

Caught between a rock and a hard place
David Zounmenou, a Côte d’Ivoire expert with South Africa-based Institute for Security Studies, said the UN “needs to act if it hopes to prevent civil war”.

“The UN is really caught between a rock and a hard place [but] it has the AU [African Union] and Ecowas behind it; it has to find away to harmonise its relations and to see how it can consolidate its presence,” he said.

“Otherwise we will be in the same situation as Rwanda in 1994 [where 800 000 were killed in a civil war] … If the UN is standing by doing nothing, we will record more victims.”

But UN spokesperson Toure said peacekeeping and peace enforcement need to be separated, with the latter only used “in a situation of widespread failure of institutions and the large scale massacre of civilian populations by armed groups”

The last UN peace enforcement mission in Somalia in the early 1990s ended in failure. — AFP