THE UNITED Nations launched air attacks on forces loyal to outgoing president Laurent Gbagbo in Ivory Coast last night, invoking a security council resolution that authorises the peacekeeping force to protect civilians.
President Nicolas Sarkozy said that, following a request from UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon, he had instructed France’s military to participate in a UN operation to protect civilians by “neutralising” heavy weapons belonging to troops aligned with Mr Gbagbo.
Reports suggested French helicopters fired at a Gbagbo-held military camp in Abidjan, the commercial capital and the site of fierce fighting between troops loyal to Ivory Coast’s rival presidents.
Mr Gbagbo has resisted international pressure to step down after a disputed election last year. Soldiers loyal to his rival, Alassane Ouattara, who is recognised by the UN as the winner of last November’s election, have been trying for five days to take control of Abidjan, having swept across most of the country last week.
Hours before the UN action began, Mr Ouattara’s forces launched a new assault to remove his rival. A convoy of several dozen vehicles containing heavily armed pro-Ouattara troops and fitted with mounted machineguns entered Ivory Coast’s main city at midday, and heavy machinegun fire and a few explosions could be heard minutes after they entered the city limits.
Mr Ouattara’s prime minister, Guillaume Soro, said their strategy had been to encircle the city, harass Mr Gbagbo’s troops and gather intelligence on their arsenal. “The situation is now ripe for a lightning offensive,” he said.
France said earlier it was sending an extra 150 soldiers to help protect civilians in Ivory Coast, bringing its troop levels in its former colony to 1,650. France has about 12,000 citizens in the country and the French military contingent has already mounted patrols in Abidjan and taken control of the airport. The French radio station Europe 1 reported last night that five people, including at least two French nationals, were abducted from a hotel in the city’s business district yesterday.
It had been expected that Mr Ouattara’s forces would quickly overrun his opponent’s troops following defection by high-ranking officers, but they have managed to withstand the assault so far and regain control of the state broadcaster. The channel has broadcast virulent anti-French and anti-UN messages, while rallying support from Mr Gbagbo’s youth wing, the Young Patriots, who formed a human chain around Mr Gbagbo’s residence and presidential palace.
More than 1,500 people have been killed since the violence began five months ago. Yesterday, the International Committee of the Red Cross said it stuck by an estimate of 800 for those killed in the western town of Duékoué in one day last week — a claim Mr Ouattara’s camp has said was “exaggerated”.
As thousands of Ivorians continued to flee into neighbouring states yesterday, the charity Oxfam warned of a worsening humanitarian situation.
More than 100,000 people have already crossed the border from Ivory Coast to Liberia, it said, and are living in dire conditions in border villages.
Unless more was done to get people to safe and serviced areas further inland, they risked being cut off as the rainy season approached.
The Department of Foreign Affairs said it was aware of a small number of Irish citizens in Ivory Coast and said its advice was to leave the country immediately. Arrangements have been put in place for embassies of other EU states to include Irish nationals in their contingency plans.
A spokeswoman advised all Irish citizens in Ivory Coast, or their relatives, to register.