Gbagbo loyalists open fire on UN patrol in Ivory Coast

New York, 19 Jan – (ANA) - Forces loyal to former president of Côte d’Ivoire, Laurent Gbagbo, who refuses to step down despite his defeat in November’s elections, opened fire on United Nations peacekeepers in charge of security for a top African Union (AU) emissary, according to the UN peacekeeping mission in the country.

  “The armed elements ……… opened fire in the direction of the UNOCI vehicles forcing the peacekeepers to respond by shooting in the air,” the mission said in a press statement.   

 The nearly 9,000-strong peacekeeping operation has been supporting efforts over

the past seven years to reunify a country split by a civil war in 2002 into a

government-controlled south and a rebel-held north.

 November’s run-off election was meant to be a culminating point in this process;

and the UN, the AU, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and many countries recognized opposition leader Alassane Ouattara as the clear

victor. But Mr. Gbagbo rejected the outcome of the poll, refused to step down

and demanded UNOCI’s withdrawal – which the UN has rejected.

 The resulting turmoil has displaced tens of thousands of people, mainly in the

west of the country where the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees

(UNHCR) is strengthening its presence to cope with the crisis. (ANA)

FA/ANA/19 January 2011----