Seven UN peacekeepers were killed in an ambush in Ivory Coast on Friday while on patrol near the border with neighboring Liberia, the world body said.
It was not immediately clear who attacked the UN troops or if any Ivorian troops they were patrolling with were harmed.
The UN said the mission had only recently increased its presence in the area, near the towns of Para and Tai, to boost efforts to protect civilians. The troops came under attack just a few kilometers from the border with Liberia.
“According to the provisional death toll, seven blue helmets were killed in an ambush ... seven blue helmets from Niger,” said Sylvie van den Wildenberg, spokeswoman for the mission known by its acronym UNOCI.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told reporters in New York that he was “saddened and outraged” by the attack.
“I understand that their colleagues are still in danger. Even tonight, after the attack, more than 40 peacekeepers remain with the villagers in this remote region to protect them from this armed group,” he said.
The UN Security Council issued a statement saying it also “condemned in the strongest terms the attack.”
The 15-nation council “expressed their deep concern at the prevailing insecurity in western Cote d’Ivoire [Ivory Coast] and the border area, and continued cross-border movements of armed elements, including militias and mercenaries.”
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a council diplomat said the border was a serious problem that needed to be dealt with.
“It’s obvious that the ferocity of the Liberian border poses a threat to the stability of the area,” the diplomat said.
The world’s top cocoa grower is gradually recovering from months of violence last year that followed a 2010 election.
The vote was won by Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara, but then-incumbent Laurent Gbagbo refused to cede until defeated by French and UN-backed local forces who supported Ouattara.
New York-based Human Rights Watch warned earlier this week that Liberian mercenaries and Ivorian fighters who fought on behalf of Gbagbo in the brief civil war last year were launching attacks on Ivory Coast from Liberia.
The rights campaigner said the combatants behind the raids, which have killed 40 people since July last year, are receiving support from individuals in the region.
Authorities in Togo arrested Moise Lida Kouassi, a close adviser to Gbagbo, on Wednesday. Ivory Coast accused him of plotting to destabilize the government from exile.
Ivory Coast Minister of Defense Paul Koffi Koffi said that Ivorian troops were preparing operations with Liberian forces and peacekeepers from the UN missions in the two countries to eliminate threats emanating from Liberia.
“This is a real problem for us, and we are going to go to Liberia in order to go after these militias or mercenaries who live there and who are destabilizing our western border,” he said, adding that the operations would begin on Friday.
UN officials could not immediately confirm that the military operations were going ahead.
‘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