UN intervenes in I Coast
2004-11-05 22:06
Paris - United Nations peacekeeping forces Friday halted a column of Ivory Coast government troops, French Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said.
In an appeal for a more robust UN role in the country, Alliot-Marie told French radio station Radio France Internationale that the column had been moving "from the south to the north" and had been halted by forces of the UN operation in the divided west African country.
The UN intervened a day after government forces repeatedly bombed cities in the north and centre of the country which have been held by former rebels since a failed coup more than two years ago.
Three people died and at least 40 people were injured in the air attacks.
Alliot-Marie said the UN had "reacted very badly" to the bombing raids on Thursday and Friday.
"The UN has reacted very badly to what has happened since yesterday," she said. "There are consultations, there is a condemnation and some thinking is being done, which should soon lead to decisions on the means and the legal framework of an intervention of UN forces with a more robust mandate."
UN forces are patrolling the buffer zone between rebel-held areas in the north and centre, and the government-controlled south.
France, Ivory Coast's former colonial power, has troops patrolling ceasefire lines alongside the UN peacekeepers.
- AFP