The United Nations on Friday announced that it has concrete intelligence that former Côte d'Ivoire president Laurent Gbagbo is inciting violence against its peacekeepers and his own countrymen.
Gbagbo, the former president who lost the elections, has been urged to cede power peacefully but refuses to step down. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that other measures need to be analyzed instead.
"We have credible accounts of grave human rights violations," Mr. Ban told the news conference. "We have concrete intelligence that the former president and those around him are inciting their followers to violence, both against the UN and their own countrymen."
The African Union and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have announced that they are considering a military intervention to remove Gbagbo and his allies.
In addition, the International Criminal Court (ICC) has declared its intention to open investigations and possibly prosecute Gbagbo. The UN peacekeepers have been under constant attacks after a UN envoy ratified the victory of opposition candidate Alassane Ouattara.
"The facts on the ground are indisputable. Cote d'Ivoire has a legitimately elected president – Alassane Ouattara. The previous incumbent, Laurent Gbagbo, must stand aside," Ban said.
The UN mission in Côte D'Ivoire (UNOCI) has deployed nearly 9,000 blue helmets in order to support efforts to reunify a country split by civil war in 2002 into a Government-controlled south and a rebel-held north.
On Thursday, two UNOCI vehicles were burned and three others damaged in the latest bout of violence against the peacekeeping mission. On Tuesday night, an UNOCI team was returning from patrolling the Abobo suburb when armed forces loyal to Gbagbo ambushed them. The peacekeepers were shot slightly injured.
UNOCI is currently protecting the new president and his Government in the Golf Hotel in Abidjan. The hotel has been used as Ouattara's headquarters as Gbagbo maintains control of the presidential palace.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury recently imposed financial sanctions on a selected group of Ivorian politicians, including Gbagbo. The sanctions were imposed for their recent actions threatening the peace and national reconciliation process in Côte d'Ivoire.
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