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Tensions persist in Cote d'Ivoire
Ivorian army ease the blockade around the scene of clashes between police and Ouattara supporters in Abidjan.
Last Modified: 13 Jan 2011 08:02 GMT
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Little respite as clashes between Gbagbo and Ouattara supporters continue in the Ivorian capital [Reuters] Ivorian security forces have eased a blockade around the scenes of deadly clashes outside the country's main city of Abidjan.The move by security forces on Thursday came a day after six police officers were reportedly killed in clashes with supporters of Alassane Ouattara, the internationally recognised winner of Cote d'Ivoire's disputed presidential election.
Philippe Mangou, the Ivorian army chief of staff, has been holding meetings with incumbent president Laurent Gbagbo, who has refused to step down following the country's November poll.
Mangou said UN peacekeepers had been sent away from the Abidjan suburb of Abobo after midnight, calling their presence "a provocation".
"According to our last report from the field, the head of the (UN) operation was turned around and went back," Mangou said after meeting Gbagbo at his residence.
"It was provocative and shameful on their part, because they are supposed to be an impartial force ... to bring us peace but they have become something else."
The UN mission spokesman was not available for comment.
"Clearly, what's happening is that supporters of Ouattara are ... angry that the political deadlock continues," Al Jazeera's Yvonne Ndege, reporting from Abidjan, said on Wednesday.
Cote d'Ivoire has been in crisis since the November 28 presidential pill that both Ouattara and Gbagbo claim to have won.
Political divisions
Ouattara was proclaimed winner by the country's electoral commission and is widely regarded by foreign governments as having legitimately won the UN-certified poll.
But Gbagbo, who is backed by the country's top court, still controls the security forces.
The UN says more than 200 people have been killed as a result of post-election violence and more than 20,000 have fled to neighbouring Liberia.
Relations between the UN mission and Gbagbo have rapidly deteriorated since the world body recognised Ouattara as winner of the elections.
Gbagbo has ordered the roughly 10,000 UN soldiers and police to leave the country, but the mission has refused, and the UN security council has approved an increase in numbers by 2,000.
A UN statement said that peacekeepers in Cote d'Ivoire were slightly wounded when their patrol was ambushed by Ivorian security forces in Abidjan on Tuesday evening.
In another incident, the security forces seized food lorries going to the hotel in which Ouattara is being
besieged by them, and let their supporters loot the vehicles on Wednesday, the UN mission said.
The UN suspect that many among the dead were killed by Gbagbo's security forces or allied militias in regular night-time raids on neighbourhoods, like Abobo, that are seen as pro-Ouattara.
Hundreds of other people may have been abducted and taken to secret detention centres, UN officials fear.
Source:
Al Jazeera and agencies
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