Côte d'Ivoire: UN official calls for measures to end deadly inter-communal violence

With inter-communal clashes in western Côte d'Ivoire claiming nearly three dozen lives and forcing hundreds to flee their homes recently, a senior United Nations relief official today appealed to the parties to stop the violence directed against civilians.

Since 29 December, forces sent by France to Côte d'Ivoire have found 35 bodies in villages surrounding Bangolo, some 600 kilometres northwest of the country's economic hub in Abidjan, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). The town has recently been a flashpoint for violence against people perceived to be non-native to the region. Early this month, six persons, including three children, were killed in one incident alone.

Citing this "alarming" spike in bloodshed, Carolyn McAskie, the UN Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator said, "The Government must do more to stop the violence."

"I call on all parties to actively bring an end to violence directed against civilians," she added.

Hundreds of people of Burkinabé origin have been displaced from villages in Gagnoa District, OCHA reported. More than 180 persons have arrived at a camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Guiglo, 550 kilometres from Abidjan, since the beginning of the month.

Many have reported that they had been forced to flee a nearby village, Troya 2, by armed persons from neighbouring villages, OCHA said. According to the IDPs at Guiglo, there have been no ethnic conflicts within their community, but "armed young people from surrounding villages" have harassed and driven them out.

They also reported that there were scores of displaced persons who had not yet reached the IDP site at Guiglo. The great majority of the displaced are long-term residents of Côte d'Ivoire, 300 of whom had been living in Troya 2 for years. There are now only 22 persons of Burkinabé origin in Troya 2.

The local administration, including the police and judiciary, has not been able to resume the full range of their activities in this crime-prone area since services lapsed at the peak of fighting between government forces and rebels roughly a year ago, OCHA said. Complicated property issues in cocoa-producing regions and the proliferation of small arms contribute to the tension in western Côte d'Ivoire. The Office warned the harvest season might give rise to increased tensions and insecurity over the next three months.