Global General

Cote d'Ivoire violence has killed at least 173

(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-12-24 09:48

ABIDJAN/GENEVA - At least 173 people have been killed in Cote d'Ivoire in recent days following last month's disputed election, the UN said on Thursday, as international pressure grows on defiant leader Laurent Gbagbo to step down.

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The United Nations also reported many people had been tortured and detained, while the United States said it feared the death toll since the Nov 28 election may be close to 200.

Led by African states, the UN Human Rights Council unanimously condemned the political violence and called for reconciliation to avoid renewed civil war.

World powers and African states have thrown their support behind rival presidential claimant Alassane Ouattara in a violent standoff in the West African country since the election.

"Between 16 and 21 December, human rights officers have substantiated allegations of 173 killings, 90 instances of torture and ill treatment, 471 arrests and detentions and 24 cases of enforced or involuntary disappearances," Kyung-wha Kang, Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, told a special session of the UN rights council.

US ambassador Betty E. King told the council's meeting in Geneva that yet more may have died. "We have credible reports that almost 200 people may have already been killed, with dozens more tortured or mistreated, and others may have been snatched from their homes in the middle of the night," she said.

A statement issued by the UN mission in Cote d'Ivoire on Thursday said that masked supporters of Gbagbo armed with rocket launchers have been blocking a road to Anyama, around N'Dotre, which it said is "a village outside Abidjan where allegations point to existence of a mass grave".

The United States, UN, European Union, African Union and West African bloc ECOWAS have all recognised provisional electoral commission results showing Ouattara as the winner.

But Gbagbo has shown no sign of caving in to the pressure and insists he won the election after the Constitutional Court, which is headed by one of his allies, threw out hundreds of thousands of votes from pro-Ouattara constituencies.

In Geneva the UN rights council adopted by consensus a resolution brought by Nigeria on behalf of African states that strongly condemned the loss of life and called for all crimes to be investigated and civilians protected.  

The United States and EU have slapped travel sanctions on Gbagbo and his inner circle, and the World Bank froze funding on Wednesday to the country, to which it has aid commitments of over $800 million.

Cote d'Ivoire's $2.3 billion bond due 2032 fell nearly a point to a record low on Thursday as investors worried that the country would be unable to meet a $30 million bond payment on Dec 31.

But Cote d'Ivoire's state-run newspaper said Gbagbo's signature was still being recognised on state accounts at the central bank and public salaries would be paid this month.

Turmoil in the world's top cocoa-producing country has also boosted cocoa prices to recent four-month highs, disrupting export registrations and raising the possibility that fighting could block transport and shipping.

Army Unity

The election in the former regional star economy was meant to reunite the country following a 2002-03 civil war, but has instead aggravated divisions.

A spokesman for the army of Cote d'Ivoire said on Wednesday that government troops were united behind Gbagbo. "There is no doubt about the cohesion as perfect brothers in arms of the security and defence forces," army spokesman Babri Gohourou said in an address on state TV.

Military support for Gbagbo is seen as one of the main reasons he is able to defy calls to step down. Earlier the prime minister of Ouattara's rival government, former rebel Guillaume Soro, said the "only solution" to the crisis was for world leaders to use force to oust him if other measures fail.

The standoff turned violent last week after gun battles broke out briefly between government soldiers and rebels who now back Ouattara. Residents of pro-Ouattara neighbourhoods have said masked gunmen are now breaking into homes by night and kidnapping people.

Henri de Raincourt, French Minister in Charge of Cooperation, told Radio France International that any military effort to oust Gbagbo would need to be led by African states.

"If something was to happen on this, it could only be on the initiative of the African countries themselves," he said.

The US State Department said Washington was discussing moves to strengthen the 10,000-strong UN peacekeeping force in Cote d'Ivoire with former colonial power France and African states in a move that could add pressure on Gbagbo.