New York, Jan 5 2011 3:10PM
Top supporters of Côte d'Ivoire's outgoing president, who refuses to
step down despite international recognition of his opponent as the
clear victor in recent elections, have launched a new hostile media
campaign against the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the
country.
"UNOCI [UN Operation in Côte d'Ivoire] demands the immediate cessation
of this negative campaign," the mission said in a statement today,
citing the continual broadcasting over the past week by state stations
controlled by defeated president Laurent Gbagbo of images of two
injured persons presented as victims of shootings by a
<"http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/missions/unoci/">UNOCI patrol in
Abobo.
"This campaign must have been planned at the highest level of
President Gbagbo's camp on 29 December 2011," it added. "The tone
mounted recently and the campaign is mobilizing actors at the highest
level in President Gbagbo's camp."
At the same time, the 9,000-strong UNOCI, which has been supporting
efforts over the past seven years to reunify the West African country,
split by civil war in 2002 into a Government-controlled south and a
rebel-held north, denounced new human rights abuses, including raids
by armed elements sent by Mr. Gbagbo's camp to an opposition
headquarters yesterday, resulting in many arbitrary arrests and
victims.
UNOCI was asked by all sides to certify the results of the November
run-off elections, and when it supported the independent election
commission's findings and declared opposition leader Alassane Ouattara
the clear victor, the constitutional council appointed by Mr. Gbagbo
threw out hundreds of thousands of opposition votes and declared the
outgoing president re-elected.
Mr. Gbagbo then demanded UNOCI's withdrawal, which the UN rejected,
and the media under his control began a first campaign of incitement
against the mission earlier last month.
Regional organizations and many countries have all recognized Mr.
Ouattara's victory, including the African Union (AU) and the Economic
Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which have been shuttling
back and forth to Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire's commercial capital, seeking
Mr. Gbagbo's peaceful departure – so far without success.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who has reaffirmed the UN's "principled
and unwavering" stand on Mr. Ouattara's victory, has been in telephone
contact with both the AU and ECOWAS in a bid to find a diplomatic
solution, <"http://www.un.org/apps/sg/offthecuff.asp?nid=1664">conferring
most recently with AU Chairman Jean Ping.
Meanwhile, UN agencies continue to aid refugees from among both Mr.
Ouattara's and Mr. Gbagbo's followers, who have fled the rising
tension to neighbouring Liberia. Their numbers now top, 22,000, mostly
women and children who urgently need food, shelter and clean water,
all in short supply in Liberia's Nimba County, where the refugees are
arriving.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said today it would send
seven trucks this week from Monrovia, the Liberian capital, to the
eastern town of Saclepea in Nimba County, five of them carrying food
and non-food supplies, and two construction material.
"We have also signed an agreement with the Norwegian Refugee Council
to simultaneously distribute the food and non-food relief items in all
refugee-receiving villages," it added, noting that it had erected a
portable warehouse in the border village of Luguato to stock relief
items, including food.
On Tuesday the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said it would immediately
make food available for close to 21,000 refugees. Last week, UNHCR
started distributing WFP-supplied high energy biscuits to children
under five, lactating mothers, pregnant women and people in poor
health. While awaiting the food distribution, refugees are helping
their host communities to harvest crops in exchange for a portion of
the rice, cassava and other staples collected.
The refugees, a mixed group of supporters of Mr. Ouattara and Mr.
Gbagbo, say they fled their homes at night and walked through the bush
to avoid detection by people holding opposing political views. As a
result, their journey took hours longer than normal.
UNHCR staff <"http://www.unhcr.org/4d246e269.html">report that
refugees continue to arrive in Liberia on a daily basis. "With
additional staff deployed to the border areas, we are hoping to speed
up registration, which opens the right to assistance and protection
for the refugees," said the agency.
Jan 5 2011 3:10PM
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