IVORY COAST: United Nations troops patrol Abidjan as heavy fighting continues in the city

Record ID: 181799

  • Title: IVORY COAST: United Nations troops patrol Abidjan as heavy fighting continues in the city
  • Date: 1st April 2011
  • Summary: ABIDJAN, IVORY COAST (MARCH 31, 2011) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF U.N. CONVOY CROSSING CHECKPOINT MANNED BY YOUNG MEN YOUNG MEN GATHERED IN FRONT OF A CLOSED SHOP STREET/YOUNG MEN AT THE CHECKPOINT MORE OF UNITED NATIONS ARMY CONVOY LEAVING VARIOUS OF CITY STREETS, SOUND OF HEAVY SHOOTING VARIOUS OF STREETS/ PEOPLE WALKING WITH THEIR HANDS UP IN THE AIR
  • Embargoed: 16th April 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Cote d'Ivoire
  • Country: Ivory Coast
  • Topics: War / Fighting,International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVAALHJI00JABPLKUMQ88WMBRD5M
  • Story Text: United Nations troops patrolled Ivory Coast's main city Abidjan on Thursday (March 31) as heavy weapons fire rang through the city centre.
    Forces loyal to Presidential claimant Alassane Ouattara have swept south across much of the country, meeting little resistance, and are now in the main city, Abidjan, battling forces loyal to incumbent Laurent Gbagbo, who refuses to step down after a contested election.
    In a separate move, United Nations troops took control of Abidjan airport, a U.N. and a private security source told Reuters on Thursday.
    The security source, who asked not to be named, said U.N. armoured vehicles had been dispatched to the airport and there were no longer any policemen or members of the gendarmerie present.
    "We have experience from many contexts of the region in both Liberia and Sierra Leone and also from Ivory Coast in previous periods of how suddenly a situation can become very unpredictable and violent for civilians ," said ICRC Head of Operations Pierre Kraehenbuehl, speaking from Geneva.
    Alassane Ouattara's government in Ivory Coast has declared an overnight curfew in the main city of Abidjan from Thursday through to Sunday, a senior official said.
    Marcel Amon Tano, Ouattara's chief of staff, said the curfew was needed "for security reasons" and would run from nine o'clock in the evening through to six o'clock in the morning each day.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
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