ECOWAS, UN and French troops can act now to get rid of Gbagbo and his War Criminals or get out and allow the two camps to fight it out. I prefer the former.
Ivory Coast crisis deepens as police officers die in armed clashes
Gunfire and explosions in Abidjan as supporters of President Laurent Gbagbo fight those of rival Alassane Ouattara
A supporter of Alassane Ouattara, internationally recognised as the victor in Ivory Coast's presidential election, jumps in front of a police vehicle burnt out during clashes in Abobo, Abidjan. Photograph: Legnan Koula/EPA
Ivory Coast lurched deeper into crisis today when at least five police officers were killed in the worst armed clashes since the disputed presidential election.
Violence erupted between supporters of President Laurent Gbagbo and Alassane Ouattara, the internationally recognised winner, in the pro-Ouattara neighbourhood of Abobo in Abidjan, the commercial capital. Sustained gunfire and what sounded like explosions from heavier weapons rang out for several hours, witnesses said.
The fighting came a day after the killing of at least four residents as security forces tried to conduct house-to-house searches. At least two police officers were also said to have died.
Ivory Coast has been in turmoil since the presidential election on 28 November that has provoked fears of a return to civil war. Gbagbo is refusing to step down despite international pressure, including the threat of force.
Salvatore Sagus, Amnesty International's west Africa researcher, said: "This is the most serious armed clash in Abidjan since the November 2010 presidential election and could plunge the Ivory Coast into an armed confrontation. There is a real risk of the population being caught up between the fighting on both sides."
Police and paramilitaries were deployed around the scene of the fighting in Abobo, where youths had set up roadblocks to prevent them entering. Gunshots could be heard ringing out from the area shortly afterwards. Two civilians were seen lying in the road, alive but with gunshot wounds.
Adama Toure, who lives in Abobo, said: "There was heavy firing and explosions from around 2am. My family and I are terrified. We couldn't sleep."
Mamadou Kante, another Abobo resident, said he saw four police vehicles burned, with at least four bodies of police officers inside, near the town hall. A source in Ivorian military intelligence, who could not be named, confirmed that four vehicles had been burned and four police died inside them.
Another witness in a different area, Abdoulaye Cisse, said: "I've never heard such loud weapons firing here. From the bottom of my apartment, I saw the body of one policeman."
Two people were killedyesterday by Gbagbo's anti-riot brigade as the security forces searched houses. Two brothers were also said to have been killed on the street.
An eyewitness told Amnesty International: "I saw security forces going to the house of Lamine Ouattara, a retired man. When they knocked at his door, Lamine refused to open. The men in uniform climbed the fence, took him out of the house and shot him dead in front of the house."
One man in his 20s was reportedly shot in the back as he ran out of his house. Coulibaly Kassoum went to seek help in a compound where he was killed by security forces.
"The security forces were beating a woman who was crying," an eyewitness told Amnesty. "One of them put his leg on the woman's head and pointed his gun at her. When they saw Coulibaly Kassoum bleeding and asking for help, they shot pointblank at his throat and killed him."
Several eyewitnesses told Amnesty that during house searches the security forces stole money and goods, including mobile phones.
UN peacekeepers arriving in a convoy of 13 vehicles were forced by a mob to make a u-turn as they attempted to enter the area. Young men allied with Gbagbo amassed on the highway, wielding sticks and throwing large objects in their path.
Ouattara was proclaimed victor by the country's electoral commission and has been recognised by world leaders. But Gbagbo, who has ruled the west African country for a decade, retains control of the military and police. The standoff risks rekindling the 2002-03 civil war that divided the country.
More than 200 people have been killed in violence since the vote and fear of further conflict has prompted more than 25,000 people to flee into neighbouring Liberia, according to UN figures.
The UN says many among the dead were killed by pro-Gbagbo security forces or allied militias in regular night-time raids on neighbourhoods, including Abobo, that are seen as pro-Ouattara. Hundreds of other people may have been abducted and taken to secret detention centres, UN officials fear.
"The people of Abobo have had enough," said resident Amara Souara. "Every day there are abductions and killings here. We have a duty to defend ourselves."
Gbagbo's camp denies killings and kidnappings and says many police have been killed by armed Ouattara activists.
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