I Coast crowd storms UN base

2006-01-17 22:31

Abidjan - Supporters of Ivory Coast's President Laurent Gbagbo on Tuesday stormed the United Nations base in Abidjan and his party said it was pulling out the current peace process and a transitional government.

Several hundred Gbagbo supporters, some armed, made a second attempt during the day to get into the base of the UN peacekeeping force in Ivory Coast, but were driven back with teargas and warning shots, a UN military source said.

The Ivorian Popular Front, Gbagbo's party, then announced it was quitting the current peace process and a transitional government led by Prime Minister Charles Konan Banny.

"The FPI announces its withdrawal from the peace process and refuses any longer to back the recolonisation process engaged under the aegis of the United Nations," said a statement signed by party chair Pascal Affi N'Guessan.

The clashes and statement came after two days of protests by a Young Patriot movement of Gbagbo backers shut down Abidjan because they objected to an international plan to scrap parliament in order to hasten the peace process.

Several hundred youths went to the UN base in the city, some with guns and others carrying flaming torches they hurled into the compound, to be driven back by tear gas and live rounds fired as warning shots by Jordanian troops, the UN source said.

In New York, UN chief Kofi Annan demanded an immediate end to what he called the continuing "orchestrated violence" directed against the UN in Ivory Coast in protest at a proposed disbanding of parliament.

The FPI "demands the withdrawal of all UN forces and Unicorn (French troops) occupation forces, exploiting and making a servant of the Ivory Coast," the statement said after a day of protests in Abidjan.

The statement targeted the 7 000 UN troops and 4 000 French soldiers patrolling ceasefire lines between the north of the west African country, in rebel hands, and the south, controlled by the government army.

- AFP