[ 2012-06-10 ]

Thousands flee after deadly Ivory Coast attacks
ABIDJAN (AFP) - Thousands of civilians in Ivory
Coast have fled their homes after seven UN
peacekeepers and eight civilians were killed in
raids near the Liberian border, a UN official and
residents said.

The wave of unrest prompted Liberia to announce it
was shutting its border with its neighbour,
although it said the move would not affect
humanitarian work in the area.

The peacekeepers were killed Friday while they
were patrolling an area between two villages after
hearing rumours of an imminent attack on
communities there. At least one Ivorian soldier
was also killed in the ambush.

A series of simultaneous raids on several villages
near the southwestern town of Tai sparked an
"immediate" exodus, UN spokeswoman Anouk
Desgroseilliers told AFP.

The raids came just days after a Human Rights
Watch report blamed recent attacks in southwest
Ivory Coast on fighters loyal to former president
Laurent Gbagbo, who is currently awaiting trial on
war crimes charges.

The authorities in Abidjan have said those behind
Friday's attacks came from Liberia.

Desgroseilliers, of the UN Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said
at least eight civilians, including a woman, had
been killed in Friday's attack, along with the
seven peacekeepers from Niger.

"Hundreds of people have arrived in Tai, and one
can imagine that thousands of others are on the
road," he said, adding that 35 families had
crossed the border into Liberia to seek safety
there.

"It's real panic here," mayor Desire Gnonkonte
told AFP by phone from Tai. "People are taking
little bundles and fleeing on foot."

Ange Joelle, a young woman newly arrived at Glaro
Ubor village in eastern Liberia said she had
"walked through the bush with my child on my
back.

"I don't know where the rest of my family is." she
added.

In Monrovia, Liberian Information Minister Lewis
Brown said the government had decided on the
"immediate closure of its border", adding that
President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf had ordered
soldiers to be deployed on the frontier.

"Individuals found to have participated in cross
border attacks will be arrested and extradited to
Ivory Coast," Brown said at a press conference.

Desgroseilliers said aid workers from the
International Committee of the Red Cross, the
Danish Refugee Council and local groups were on
site to assist those displaced, including
supplying food and water.

OCHA was trying to coordinate the response to the
situation with local authorities, she added.

Ivorian defence minister Paul Koffi Koffi said one
Ivorian soldier on patrol with the UN force also
died in the attack, while another army source said
two of their men had been killed.

Abidjan said it had already sent reinforcements to
the troubled region.

On Friday, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said
he was "outraged" by the killing of the Niger
peacekeepers, the biggest losses suffered by the
10,000-strong UN mission in Ivory Coast (ONUCI)
since it was deployed in 2004.

Niger Justice Minister and government spokesman
Marou Amadou expressed the government's shock at
the deaths.

"All measures should be taken to see that this
serious act does not go unpunished," he told AFP,
adding that the 900-strong Niger contingent would
nevertheless continue its work with ONUCI.

Human Rights Watch said in its report published
Wednesday that similar border raids had killed at
least 40 people since July 2011, blaming fighters
loyal to Gbagbo.

Liberia on Thursday angrily denied HRW's
accusations that it was doing nothing to stop what
the rights group described as the "war criminals"
behind the cross-border raids.

Human Rights Watch also accused the fighters of
forcing Liberian children into fighting with
them.

Gbagbo refused to stand down after elections in
2010 that handed victory to his rival, current
President Alassane Ouattara.

He was finally captured on April 11, 2011, after a
conflict that cost 3,000 lives across the
country.

The former president has been in custody in The
Hague since November awaiting trial by the
International Criminal Court on charges of crimes
against humanity.

Source - AFP

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