- Title: IVORY COAST: Ivorian opposition urges tougher UN stance in political deadlock
- Date: 21st December 2010
- Summary: ABIDJAN, IVORY COAST (DECEMBER 20, 2010) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF UNITED NATIONS MISSION TO IVORY COAST (UNOCI) SOLDIERS ON TANKS OUTSIDE UNOCI HEADQUARTERS VARIOUS OF UN MISSION CHIEF Y. J CHOI IN NEWS CONFERENCE ROOM (SOUNDBITE) (French) Y.J. CHOI, CHIEF OF THE UNITED NATIONS PEACEKEEPING FORCE IN IVORY COAST, SAYING "All these acts will not deter UNOCI from doing its job as we remember one of Winston Churchill's maxims: 'If you are going through hell, just keep going.'" VARIOUS OF UNOCI HEADQUARTERS/UN FLAG VARIOUS OF WORKERS REINFORCING HEADQUARTERS WITH RAZOR-WIRE VARIOUS OF UN SOLDIERS OUTSIDE UN HEADQUARTERS
- Embargoed: 5th January 2011 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Cote d'Ivoire
- Country: Ivory Coast
- Topics: Domestic Politics
- Reuters ID: LVAAY0MLCDZZQ27WNYUG9PWJ0T6Y
- Story Text: Ivory Coast presidential claimant Alassane Ouattara urged the United Nations (U.N.) on Monday (December 20) to toughen its peacekeeping mandate to help quell a violent power struggle that has already claimed at least 50 lives.
Incumbent Laurent Gbagbo has defied pressure to step down after a November 28 election the outside world says he lost, and his supporters have vowed to fight to the death after U.N. and French troops rejected his demand to quit the country.
Local U.N. peacekeeping mission chief Y.J. Choi declined to comment on the mandate but accused Gbagbo's camp of a media campaign inciting violence against UN personnel and said "armed young men" had been sent to harass some staff at their homes.
But Choi said the United Nations Operation in Cote d'Ivoire (UNOCI) would continue its work.
"All these acts will not deter UNOCI from doing its job as we remember one of Winston Churchill's maxims: 'If you are going through hell, just keep going,'" he said.
Gbagbo retains control over lucrative revenues from both the cocoa and oil sectors, largely based in the south, and his supporters have dismissed international pressure as meddling.
In Brussels, diplomatic sources said European Union (EU) states had agreed that Gbagbo and 18 others would face punitive measures to be formally announced on Wednesday (December 22), and seen including travel bans and asset freezes.
U.N. Security Council powers are to review terms under which the 10,000-strong UNOCI peacekeeping force, whose current mandate runs out at the end of the month, will continue its presence in the world's top cocoa grower.
The U.N. force is currently mandated to protect U.N. personnel and sites and to protect civilians "under imminent threat of physical violence" but Ouattara is asking for a reinforced U.N. mandate.
Outside the U.N. headquarters, Ouattara supporters who said they were attacked overnight begged for medical care.
Gbagbo's government has denied using excessive force to put down last week's protests and says some protesters were armed.
Ouattara's eight-point poll victory was overturned on grounds of alleged fraud by the Constitutional Council, led by a staunch Gbagbo ally.
Around 5,000 Ivorians have already fled to neighbouring countries as concerns grow that an election designed to draw a line under the 2002-2003 civil war will only harden the division between the rebel-held north and government-controlled south. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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