Gbagbo readying rockets, helicopter attacks: UN

an attack helicopter and multiple rocket launchers yesterday and condemned the growing use of heavy weapons against civilians.
Its statement came as Gbagbo’s rival Alassane Ouattara scolded the mission for not doing enough to protect civilians, saying Gbagbo’s security forces had killed more than 800 people since a contested November election in the world’s top cocoa grower.
Gbagbo’s spokesman was not immediately available to comment. But the International Crisis Group think tank said warnings of the country returning to war had already materialised.
The power struggle between the two has degenerated into armed conflict, with gun battles and heavy weapons fire in the main city Abidjan and the west, across a north-south ceasefire line in place since the end of the last civil war in 2003.
“The United Nations . . . is extremely concerned about the increased use of heavy weapons, including machine guns and mortars, by special forces loyal to President Laurent Gbagbo’s camp against the civilian population in Abidjan,” it said.
The UN mission said Gbagbo’s men were repairing an MI-24 attack helicopter and readying BM21 multiple rocket launchers.
“ONUCI (the UN mission) is closely monitoring these heavy weapons which pose a grave threat to the civilian population. The mission strongly warns this camp that it will not tolerate any attempt to use these weapons and will take action against this in keeping with its mandate,” the statement said.
UN military spokesman Rais Chakib declined to give any details on what action would be taken.
At least 25 people were killed and more than 60 wounded when pro-Gbagbo forces fired a series of mortar rounds into Abidjan’s northern Abobo district last Thursday, including one that exploded in a busy marketplace, the UN mission has said.
Gbagbo’s camp has denied being behind the attack.
The November election was meant to reunite the country, divided since a 2002-3 war, but it remains divided and as volatile as ever.
“Cote d’lvoire is no longer on the brink of civil war: it has already begun,” the Brussels-based ICG said in an open letter yesterday to regional West African bloc Ecowas, which it said should be “actively preparing to oust his regime by all necessary means before it is too late.” – Reuters.