Three attack helicopters are being delivered from Belarus to military forces supporting Ivory Coast’s longtime ruler who refuses to cede power, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said, marking a dramatic escalation in the months-long political crisis.
The move by incumbent Ivorian leader Laurent Gbagbo comes after a week of intensified street fighting in Abidjan that left dozens dead. The bloody clashes between supporters of Gbagbo and his political rival prompted the UN to warn that the country was closer to the brink of re-igniting civil war.
On Sunday, Ban’s office said that helicopters from Belarus were being sent to Gbagbo’s forces in violation of an international arms embargo. The first delivery reportedly arrived on Sunday evening and additional flights were scheduled for yesterday.
Photo: Reuters
“This is a serious violation of the embargo against Cote d’Ivoire, which has been in place since 2004,” Ban’s statement said, using the country’s French name.
Ban “warns both the supplier of this military equipment and Mr Gbagbo that appropriate action will be taken in response to the violation.”
The UN has been providing 24-hour protection to Alassane Ouattara, the internationally recognized winner of the Nov. 28 presidential election. He has been confined to the grounds of a heavily guarded hotel because Gbagbo refuses to leave office.
The three-month standoff has already claimed the lives of hundreds of Ouattara supporters. The conflict reached a new level of intensity last week when commandos allied with Ouattara infiltrated the Abidjan district of Abobo.
On Sunday, the state television antenna was attacked, pulling the channel accused of disseminating hate off the air in Abidjan.
The Radio Television Ivorienne (RTI) channel was no longer available across the capital and witnesses said the antenna continued to burn at midday on Sunday.
A ticker that ran during the midday news on RTI, which continued to broadcast via satellite to upscale neighborhoods, confirmed the attack and said programming had been “momentarily interrupted.”
A resident of the Abobo neighborhood where the antenna was attacked and who asked not to be named for fear of retribution said the facility was still in flames on Sunday afternoon. Firefighters were attempting to put it out.
Supporters of Ouattara said the attack occurred at around 3am near PK-18, a stretch of Abobo that has been the scene of pitched battles all week between pro-Ouattara and pro-Gbagbo forces.
Immediately following last year’s election, Gbagbo’s government pulled foreign channels off the air. RTI refused to announce Ouattara’s victory, instead broadcasting the constitutional council’s decision to annul results and hand the presidency back to Gbagbo, who has been in power for 10 years.
The channel has become increasingly xenophobic, and in recent weeks it has singled the head of the UN peacekeeping mission, Choi Young-jin. His headshot is being shown on the nightly news, spliced between images of dead Ivorians. It has also encouraged Ivorians have also been encouraged to erect barricades and stop all movement of UN vehicles.
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