UN Urges End To Cote D'Ivoire Violence

UN Urges End To Cote D'Ivoire Violence

The UN Security Council has urged an end to the broadcasting of false information in Cote D' Ivoire aimed at inciting violence.

The UN says it frowns at violence that has killed dozens of people in ethnic clashes in the country.

Ethnic violence in Cote D' Ivoire 's western town of Duekoue last week killed 33 people and wounded 75 .

Meanwhile reports say residents of PK18 in the small town of Abobo-Abidjan , Cote d'Ivoire , on Tuesday had a sleepless night as the Ivorian army and police moved into the area, shooting throughout the night. 

An eye witness said: ''They came in after midnight and they have been firing since then.''

The resident, Eno Kuasi, said he had not noticed any casualties around his area in Abobo, but some families panicked. 

''We are actually fed up with the entire post-election crisis, so the gun shots don't really mean much to us…In fact taxis are moving around so the brave people among us keep going out and coming since the early hours, in spite of the siege and the gun shots,'' he said. 

Kuasi said that more than 200 soldiers and police besieged area.

He said UN troops were turned back from the area when they tried to intervene.

Another resident, Cendrine Ehui, said two bodies were found on the streets, but could not confirm if they are casualties from the raid.

Ehui said the national army and police had been moving from house to house in search of weapons, while scaring off residents with gun fire.

The UN spokesmen in Cote d'Ivoire , Ahmadou Toure  and Kenneth Blackman, have however, been unavailable to confirm the reports of violenceproved difficult as both of them were not picking their calls. 

The reports of renewed violence come on the heels of a statement read by Bosnia 's deputy UN Ambassador Mirsada Colakovic, in which the body voiced: ''deep concern over continued violence and human rights violations'' .

Bosnia holds the council's rotating presidency this month.

The UN says more than 200 people have been killed in violence since a dispute broke out between Laurent Gbagbo, who has refused to step down as president, and his rival Alassane Ouattara, after a presidential election on November 28.

More than 20,000 Ivorians in the west have fled across the border to Liberia since the dispute flared up, fearing a return to civil war, with the country divided into Gbagbo-controlled south and rebel north since its last such war in 2002 to 2003.

Council diplomats told newsmen that Russia and China were reluctant to have the Council explicitly recognise Ouattara as the country's elected president because they dislike the idea of the Security Council endorsing one candidate over another in a national election.

To secure the support of Moscow and Beijing , diplomats said, the statement quoted a January 4 communiqué issued jointly by the AU and ECOWAS that referred to Ouattara as Cote d'Ivoire 's president.

''In view of the communiqué which recognises Ouattara as President of Cote d'Ivoire , the members of the Security Council reiterated their call on all Ivorian parties and stakeholders to respect the will of the people and the outcome of the election,'' the statement said.

UN peacekeeping chief, Alain Le Roy, told the 15- nation council last week that he would ask for up to 2,000 additional peacekeepers to top up the 10,000 -strong UN force, known as UNOCI, in the world's top cocoa grower.

The statement said the council ''welcomed the submission of the detailed recommendations and proposals'' aimed at strengthening UNOCI.

The long-delayed presidential election was intended to draw a line under years of instability, but instead has widened the divide between the country's north and south.

NAN/Margaret/Yinka