The UN said on Sunday it has received hundreds of reports of people being abducted from their homes at night by armed assailants in military uniform and that there is growing evidence of “massive violations of human rights” since Ivory Coast’s disputed election.
The statement from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights came a day after the UN said it would remain in Ivory Coast despite demands from the man refusing to give up the presidency that thousands of peacekeepers get out of the West African country.
Navi Pillay, the top UN human rights official, said on Sunday that more than 50 people have been killed over the past three days in Ivory Coast. Previous estimates were that up to 30 people had died in the violence.
“The deteriorating security conditions in the country and the interference with freedom of movement of UN personnel have made it difficult to investigate the large number of human rights violations reported,” Pillay said in a statement released from her office in Geneva.
It also said that the armed assailants behind the home abductions had been “accompanied by elements of the Defense and Security Forces or militia groups.”
International pressure is mounting for Laurent Gbagbo to concede defeat to opposition leader Alassane Ouattara, whose victory has been recognized by the UN, the US, former colonizer France and the African Union.
In Washington, the US State Department on Sunday ordered most of its personnel to leave Ivory Coast because of the deteriorating security situation and growing anti-Western sentiment.
The order issued on Sunday exempts only the State Department’s emergency personnel. US officials also warned all US citizens to avoid travel to the West African nation until further notice.
The EU was giving Gbagbo until Sunday to concede defeat or face sanctions that would include an assets freeze and a visa ban on him and his wife. The UN Security Council was also expected to meet yesterday to discuss Ivory Coast’s political crisis.
Still, experts say there are few strong options for forcing Gbagbo out of office and it is unlikely the African Union or others would back a military intervention.
“The trouble is both sides are clearly preparing now for conflict, and a cornered Gbagbo shows little sense of the national tragedy unfolding through his brinkmanship,” said Alex Vines, head of the Africa program at Chatham House, an independent research center in London.
Vines said it was more likely that the African Union would seek a “soft landing” for Gbagbo, though it remained unclear whether he would consider such an exile offer.
In a statement read on state television on Saturday, Gbagbo’s spokeswoman said that 9,000 UN peacekeepers and another 900 French troops supporting them were to leave the West African country immediately.
Gbagbo accused the UN mission of backing Ouattara and arming rebels who support him.
The UN had been invited by the country itself to supervise the vote and certify the outcome following a peace accord after Ivory Coast’s 2002 to 2003 civil war.
The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said late on Saturday that the UN mission, known as UNOCI, would stay in Ivory Coast despite Gbagbo’s demand.
The UN Security Council yesterday also planned to discuss the renewal of UNOCI’s mandate, which is due to expire on Dec. 31.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese