I. Coast: UN to use deadly force

  1. Posted on Friday 31 December 2010 - 14:54
    guyson
    Image of guyson
    Nangayi Guyson, AfricaNews reporter in Kampala, Uganda
    United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has warned supporters of Ivory Coast's embattled president Laurent Gbagbo that peacekeepers will use deadly force if attacked by supporters who have threatened to seize a UN-protected hotel occupied by Alassane Ouattara, the winner of last month's presidential vote.
    Ban-Ki-Moon.jpg
    On Wednesday Gbagbo's Minister for Youth, Charles Ble Goude, urged followers to storm the Golf Hotel on Saturday "with our bare hands".

    A statement from Ki-moon’s office said he was "deeply alarmed" by Goude's call, adding that the UN mission would use all necessary means to protect Ouattara.

    "Any attack on the Golf Hotel could provoke widespread violence that could reignite civil war," the statement said. "The secretary-general calls on all those who may be contemplating participation in the attack to refrain from such dangerous irresponsible action.”

    Nearly 10,000 UN troops from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Jordan and a number of West African countries have standing orders to defend themselves and protect the country’s elected political leaders, using force if necessary, the UN scribe said in the statement.

    “UNOCI is authorized to use all necessary means to protect its personnel, as well as the government officials and other civilians at these premises of the hotel,” according to the statement, issued by Ban’s spokesman. UNOCI is the acronym for the UN mission in Ivory Coast.

    Civil war

    Ouattara has been holed up with members of his parallel government at the Golf Hotel in Abidjan, the country’s commercial capital, since the start of a dispute over the results of the November 28 election. The 68-year-old opposition leader, who is being protected by UN peacekeepers, is regarded by the UN, the African Union and the U.S. as the winner of the vote. Gbagbo, the incumbent, has refused to step down.

    Gbagbo warned yesterday that he would not leave voluntarily and said that the international pressure for him to quit threatened to push the country to civil war.

    “I do not believe at all in a civil war. But obviously, if the pressures continue as they have, they will push towards war, confrontation,” he said in an interview with Euronews, a European television channel.

    West African leaders met with Gbagbo on Dec. 28 to press him to give up the leadership. They plan a second round of talks next month.

Latest News

  1. OPINION: Welcome to African Green Revolution24/05For the past century and a half, Africa has tried various agricultural approaches without much success.
  2. Egyptians vote in historic election23/05Egyptians began voting freely on Wednesday for the first time to pick their president in a wide open election that pits Islamists against men who serv…
  3. Africa Day 2012 - a moment for reflection and…22/0525th May is Africa Day. For many years it has been a celebration of African unity. It dates back to 1963 when the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) …
  4. South Africa's African agenda21/05The Deputy President of the Republic of South Africa, Kgalema Mothlanthe paid a rare visit to Ghana in April at the invitation of John Dramani Mahama …
  5. Women struggle to rinse hunger, poverty stains21/05Just looking at her one clearly appreciates that she is old and frail therefore in need of support for food, clothing and shelter to live comfortably …
  6. Climate Climate change affects migratory birds…21/05Changes in the climate globally have affected the movement of both migratory and resident species of birds, Nature Uganda has said.
  7. Ghana: Foreign retailers cited for currency…18/05The Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) is attributing the sharp depreciation of the Ghana cedi against major currencies to the illegal activiti…
  8. Kenya: Community radio brings succour to…18/05Korogocho, a slum in northeastern Nairobi with 100,000 inhabitants, had many of the ingredients for a political explosion similar to those that rocked…
  9. Veld fires 'flame' Zimbabwe's…16/05Over the years, Zimbabwe has experienced the scourge of veld fires destroying property worth thousands of dollars.
  10. Liberia commends ECOWAS for support14/05The induction training of pioneer Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Volunteers for Liberia kicked off in Monrovia, with the Deputy Mi…
  11. Vanishing Lake Chad puts 30m lives at risk14/05As you approach the Lake Chad basin from Maiduguri, in north-eastern Nigeria, the evidence of despair is telling.
  12. Heavy rains cause havoc in Kenya14/05Heavy Rainfall continued to wreak havoc across the country leading to the suspension of relief food in some parts of the country as most roads in Turk…
  13. Zimbabwe: Growth points lie dormant14/05The Zimbabwean government mooted the concept of growth points in the 1980s as a means of decongesting cities and towns.
  14. Sierra Leone improves in infant mortality11/05Sierra Leone has improved in infant mortality cases according to Save the Children- World Motherhood index 2012 report. The West Africa country descri…
  15. Zimbabwe: Resettled farmers fail to utilize…10/05Resettled farmers in Zimbabwe are failing to utilize land due to inadequate farming inputs and lack of resources.
News archive