French forces take over airport in Abidjan
By Dennis Otim
4th April 2011:- French troops have taken over the airport in Ivory Coast’s main city, Abidjan, AFP news agency has reported. French military Spokesman Thierry Burkhard also said his country would send an extra 300 soldiers to Ivory Coast.
Fighting has raged in Abidjan since Thursday night as forces loyal to the UN-recognised President Alassane Ouattara battle those loyal to his rival Laurent Gbagbo; the incumbent who is believed to have lost the election. More than 1,500 foreigners are sheltering in a French army camp.
An adviser to Mr Ouattara says his forces have been gathering outside Abidjan in preparation for a final push to depose Mr Gbagbo. On Saturday last week, heavy artillery fire was heard in Abidjan as the two sides fought for key sites including the Presidential Palace, the headquarters of state TV, and the Agban military base.
Four UN soldiers were seriously wounded when Special Forces loyal to Mr Gbagbo fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a UN armoured personnel carrier. Retired South African Archbishop and Nobel peace laureate Desmond Tutu appealed to both sides to lay down their arms.
“…We’ve got a massive, horrendous humanitarian situation there with so many, over a million refugees already. We’ve got to do everything we can to stop the killings and call on both sides – but especially Ouattara’s side – please exercise as much restraint as you can. It’s people’s lives that are at stake”, Tutu told the BBC yesterday.
Western parts of Ivory Coast have seen bitter and bloody battles between rival militias and ethnic groups. On Saturday, the Christian aid agency Caritas said its staff had found bodies of hundreds of people in Duekoue and estimated that up to 1,000 may have been killed.
The killings allegedly took place between 27th and 29th March in the Carrefour district which is believed to be under the control of fighters loyal to Mr Ouattara. Caritas said it does not know who was responsible for the killings but said a proper investigation must take place to establish the truth.
The International Committee of the Red Cross [ICRC] put the death toll at about 800, while the UN said more than 330 people were killed as Mr Ouattara’s forces took over Duekoue. More than 100 were however said to have been killed by forces loyal to Gbagbo.
Sidiki Konate, a spokesman for Mr Ouattara’s government, said that while some people had been killed in the fighting between the two sides in recent days, there had been no deliberate killings of Gbagbo supporters.
ICRC staff who visited Duekoue on Thursday and Friday to gather evidence however said the scale and brutality of the killings were shocking. END. Please log into www.ugandacorrespondent.com every Monday to read our top stories and anytime mid-week for our news updates.
