USA Africa Dialogue Series - War Erupts In The West Of Cote d'Ivoire

Ivory Coast Army, Rebels Clash in West as Violence Continues

February 24, 2011, 1:30 PM EST

By Pauline Bax and Baudelaire Mieu

(Updates with death toll in seventh paragraph.)

Feb. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Ivory Coast's army clashed with rebels in the western part of the country as violence that has gripped the commercial capital, Abidjan, since a disputed presidential election spread.

The fighting erupted near the town of Danane, which is close to the Ivorian border with Liberia, said Hamadoun Toure, spokesman for the United Nations mission in the country. It marks a "new escalation," as previous conflicts were between security forces and protesters," Toure said by phone today. "Now we have two armed forces fighting each other."

Ivory Coast, the world's top cocoa producer, has been divided between a government-controled south and a rebel-held north since a 2002 uprising of mutinous army soldiers. The rebels support Alassane Ouattara, the internationally recognized winner of the Nov. 28 election. Incumbent Laurent Gbagbo refuses to cede power to him, alleging voter fraud in parts of the north.

The rebels, called the New Forces, were attacked in the west along the north-south border around 4 a.m., said Lass Com, a spokesman for the group in the 18 Montagnes region, by phone.

Death Toll

"Security forces loyal to Gbagbo attacked us with the help of militias," he said, adding that the fighting had stopped. "It's a zone with dense forest and it's hard to communicate with the area, so we don't have a death toll yet."

Canadian gold miner La Mancha Resources Inc. halted operations at its Ity mine in the western part of the country, saying production is "vulnerable to the country's current political situation," according to a statement. The site previously stopped for two weeks in December, it said.

As many as 315 people have been killed in fighting since the election, according to the UN mission. Internally displaced Ivorians number 40,876 in the west, while another 39,685 people have fled to neighboring Liberia, according to an e-mailed statement. Another 800 people went to Guinea and 252 Ivorians went to Togo, it said.

The fighting had mainly been concentrated in Abidjan, the country's biggest city. Sustained gunfire and heavy artillery was heard for a third day in the Abobo neighborhood.

Today's fighting centered around a local military barracks, according to residents. "There is fighting around the camp commando. It's serious. We can hear rocket-propelled grenades," said Ahmed Sylla, a resident of the area.

An armed group called the Liberation Movement of the Population of Abobo-Anyama claimed responsibility for an attack on government troops in Abobo, saying 27 people were killed on Feb. 22. The areas voted in favor of Ouattara.

Rights Violations

Since the election, Ivory Coast has seen a "continuous pattern of serious human rights violations," said Navi Pillay, the UN's High Commissioner for Human Rights, in an e-mailed statement. The violations include "extrajudicial killings, abductions, enforced disappearances, excessive use of force by security forces and destruction of property," according to the statement.

Leaders from the African Union tasked with mediating in the conflict "need to step in to find a just and accountable way out of this stand-off before the violence gets any worse," said Daniel Bekele, Africa director at New York-based Human Rights Watch, in an e-mailed statement dated yesterday.

The presidents of South Africa, Tanzania, Mauritania and Chad completed a two-day visit to the country on Feb. 22.

The mission could be the "final attempt" by the regional bloc for a peaceful resolution to the crisis, said Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga, who tried at least twice previously to mediate in the impasse.

Cocoa for May delivery rose for the third straight day, adding $9, or 0.3 percent, to $3,640 per metric ton by 1:26 p.m. in New York.

--With assistance from Olivier Monnier in Abidjan. Editors: Emily Bowers, Karl Maier.

To contact the reporter on this story: Pauline Bax and Baudelaire Mieu in Abidjan via Accra at ebowers1@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Antony Sguazzin at asguazzin@bloomberg.net.