Rebel forces in Côte d’Ivoire have seized three towns after heavy fighting, in what could be a move to march south and overthrow President Laurent Gbagbo.
The escalation came as the United Nations (UN) accused Gbagbo’s forces of shooting dead about 10 civilians in the commercial capital, Abidjan. Groups of pro-Gbagbo youths burned a man alive and attacked two groups of UN staff, it said.
The nascent civil war has also triggered a fresh humanitarian emergency, with up to 30 000 people taking refuge in a church compound in the city of Duekoue without food or medical treatment.
The rapid deterioration comes four months after Alassane Ouattara was widely recognised as the winner of a UN-certified election but Gbagbo refused to step down. There have since been reports of widespread human rights abuses.
After numerous warnings that civil war is imminent, the conflict is now increasingly resembling one. Forces loyal to Ouattara launched their most determined offensive yet on Monday night to open fronts both east and west. Witnesses and fighters from both sides said the New Forces, which has controlled the north since the civil war of 2002-2003, seized the towns of Daloa and Duekoue in the heart of the western cocoa belt.
There has been limited fighting in the area along the Liberian border in recent weeks, but the latest push could allow pro-Ouattara troops to move south to the strategic port of San Pedro, or east to the political capital, Yamoussoukro. The ultimate prize is Abidjan, Gbagbo’s seat of power.
Seydou Ouattara, a military spokesperson for Ouattara, told the Associated Press: “The general offensive has begun, because we’ve realised that this is the only way to remove [Gbagbo].” The area the rebels now control produces about 600 000 tonnes of cocoa a year, half of the output from the world’s biggest cocoa grower.
Rebels moving in
Witnesses said Ouattara’s forces had also seized a major eastern town, Bondoukou, for the first time. Resident Dramane Yao, a driver, told the BBC: “The rebels are in the town and they are moving all around the place in vehicles. They are shooting. Everyone has gone inside.” Up to one million Ivorians have now fled the fighting in Abidjan alone, according to the UN refugee agency.
Others have been uprooted across the country and about 100 000 have crossed into Liberia. Up to 30 000 people in Duekoue are crammed into a Catholic mission compound without food, water or electricity, the UN said. Jacques Seurt, its refugee agency’s emergency coordinator in Côte d’Ivoire, said: “Terrified displaced persons have been streaming in, some with gunshot wounds as they cannot receive emergency treatment from the local hospital.”
The local priest, who did not wish to be named, said many of those seeking refuge were migrants from other West African countries who had been working in the cocoa plantations.
Speaking to the BBC this week, the priest said he was hiding under a table as shooting could still be heard. “We’re hearing the fighting in front of the church and people are inside the church and they are running around inside,” he said. The UN accused rebels of shooting at one of its helicopters while it was on a reconnaissance flight above Duekoue.
A source in the pro-Gbagbo military confirmed that Daloa and Duekoue had fallen, but said fighting continued in parts of Duekoue. “The combat was violent in Daloa the whole night, but we couldn’t keep our positions,” he told Reuters. Daloa is sympathetic to Ouattara and Duekoue is mixed, yet many of the areas surrounding them are teeming with pro-Gbabgo militia, which could make the march south difficult.
Unlike during the last war, when French peacekeepers stepped in at Duekoue to stop the rebels advancing on San Pedro, international governments have been quick this time to condemn Gbabgo for undermining the peace process by rejecting the election results. All recognise Ouattara, who remains holed up in an Abidjan hotel, as president.
The violent standoff has led to 462 confirmed deaths, according to the UN. The UN Security Council is considering a resolution proposed by France and Nigeria that would reinforce the UN peacekeeping mandate in the country, banning the use of heavy weapons in Abidjan. — Guardian News & Media 2011