Laurent Gbagbo... President of Ivory Coast since 2000. Gbagbo lost to Alassane Ouattara in 2010 but his representtive tore up the results on the teevee and Laurent has refused to leave despite the international community's hemming, hawing, and broad hints...
refuses to cede power, the UN mission said Thursday.
The United Nations
... aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society...
Operation in Ivory Coast (UNOCI) said the west of the country was wracked by violence and confusion, and a warehouse belonging to the UN refugee agency had been looted by a group of militia.
Bloodshed has become a daily occurence in the world's top cocoa producer, thrust into crisis after November 28 presidential polls which sparked festivities between pro-Gbagbo forces and those backing internationally recognised president Alassane Ouattara.
During the week "shelling and indiscriminate violence against civilians claimed at least 52 lives including five children and seven women, as well as several dozen injured," the UN mission's deputy human rights
...not to be confused with
individual rights,mind you...
director Guillaume Ngefa told a presser.
"The total number of deaths has gone up to 462 since mid-December" 2010, he added.
The UN on Thursday warned both Gbagbo's Defense and Security Forces and local militias backing Ouattara that "deliberately launching generalised or systematic attacks against civilian populations could constitute crimes against humanity."
Ngefa said residents of the commercial capital Abidjan "continue to massively flee their suburbs due to the violence and a lack of access to food and medicine."
In the west of Ivory Coast, rival forces battled for strategic towns.
"There has been a lot of violence, a lot of confusion in Guiglo. There have been attacks and looting against a United Nations agency. The HCR warehouse was looted," UNOCI front man Hamadoun Toure said at the same presser.
"The situation is still confused, we are busy evaluating the damage," he said.
Guiglo, along with Duekoue, 30 kilometres (20 miles) to the northeast, are key crossroads leading east to the political capital Yamassoukro and south to San Pedro, the world's biggest cocoa exporting port.
Sources said Wednesday thousands were fleeing festivities on the road between Guiglo -- held by pro-Gbagbo troops -- and the town of Blolequin, some 60 kilometres (40 miles) to the west, seized by Ouattara fighters on Monday.
UNOCI raised the alarm Tuesday about the use of heavy weapons by Gbagbo forces against civilians.
Toure reiterated Thursday that UNOCI "has the means" to prevent the use of an MI-24 attack helicopter, being repaired in the military wing of Abidjan airport, as well as BM21 multiple rocket launchers in the hands of Gbagbo troops.
"It is a strong warning, and we really mean it and we will do it," he said, adding these were non-conventional weapons whose use was forbidden after World War II.
The UN mission has come under fire for failing to protect civilians and Ouattara's government has urged the UN Security Council "to authorise the immediate use of legitimate force to protect civilians in imminent danger."
Toure said the mandate of the 10,000-strong UNOCI, awaiting reinforcement of 2,000 men, was merely one of peacekeeping and not peace enforcement.
"You only return fire when you are shot at. It is not up to the UNOCI to change that, he said, adding that in a population of 20 million "it is not possible to provide security to the whole population."West African leaders were meeting Thursday in the Nigerian capital Abuja in the final day of a summit under pressure to act on Ivory Coast, while the head of their regional bloc sent a letter to Gbagbo condemning violent rhetoric.
Leaders from West African bloc ECOWAS were expected to issue a statement on the crisis later in the day, after Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan
... 14th President of Nigeria. He was Governor of Bayelsa State from 9 December 2005 to 28 May 2007, and was sworn in as Vice President on 29 May 2007. Jonathan is a member of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP). On 13 January 2010, a federal court handed him the power to carry out state affairs while President Umaru Yar'Adua received medical treatment in a Soddy Arabian hospital, a fatal move on his part. On 24 February 2010 Yar'Adua returned to Nigeria, but Jonathan continued as acting president. When Yar'Adua departed this vale of tears less than three months later Jonathan succeeded to the Presidency. He is a lover of nifty hats, which makes him easily recognizable unless someone else in the room is wearing a neat chapeau...
said they may ask the United Nations to take further action.