Ivory Coast was plunged into full-scale civil war yesterday as the forces of Laurent Gbagbo fought to save his regime from collapse.
The sound of mortars and gunfire echoed through the streets, reports of massacres reached the principal city, Abidjan, and the UN evacuated its headquarters after being attacked by soldiers loyal to Mr Gbagbo. He has refused to stand down despite losing presidential elections in November.
About 200 staff were taken by helicopter from the UN base in one of the city’s hotels to the main international airport, which was under French control. A second helicopter then ferried them to the northern city of Bouaké.
While fighters loyal to Mr Gbagbo’s rival, the internationally recognised president, Alassane Ouattara, prepared a final onslaught on his loyalist Republican Guard, France sent more troops to the troubled West African country, its former colony.
With reports emerging across the country of summary executions, massacres, rapes and other human rights abuses, Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, said that America was “deeply concerned” about the country, which was once one of the most prosperous on the continent.
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The African Union has called on Mr Gbagbo to stand down to avoid more suffering, but all appeals have failed to budge him from his determination to fight to the end.
Mr Ouattara came under renewed pressure to discipline his forces when they move in on Mr Gbagbo and the remnants of the diehard Republic Guard. Ban Ki Moon, the UN Secretary-General, said he was alarmed by reports that allies of Mr Ouattara were responsible for the massacre of between 800 and 1,000 civilians at Duékoué in the west of the country.
Mr Ouattara denied that his forces were responsible, but Human Rights Watch said that both sides had committed atrocities.
The Catholic charity Caritas said that a thousand people had been killed or were missing in Duékoué, where mass graves were reportedly found after heavy fighting. The town was seized by fighters supporting Mr Ouattara after battles on Tuesday last week.
“The massacre took place in the ‘Carrefour’ quarter of town, controlled by pro-Ouattara forces, during clashes on Sunday, March 27 to Tuesday, 29 March,” the charity said.
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Close to where the civilians were killed another 15,000 people were under the protection of the Catholic Church, where they took shelter earlier in the week when the two sides fought for control of Duékoué. The Roman Catholic Bishop, Gaspard Beby Gneba of Man, warned of a humanitarian disaster and a UN spokesman said: “They need everything: food, medicine, water, sanitation. People have lost everything houses, clothes. They do not even have a mat to sleep on.”
Violence has gripped much of the rest of the country, which is now in civil war. “It has reached the boiling point,” said Daniel Bekele, the Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “We are concerned about the potential for further human rights atrocities, given the killings by both sides and the continued incitement to violence through the media by Gbagbo cronies.”
In a four-month organised campaign of human rights abuses, Mr Gbagbo’s forces have killed, “disappeared” and raped real and perceived supporters of Mr Ouattara, Human Rights Watch has found. It added, however, that armed men supporting Mr Ouattara have also engaged in extrajudicial executions of presumed pro-Gbagbo fighters and supporters.
On Saturday Mr Gbagbo called on his supporters to descend on the streets to form a human shield around the presidential palace.
Youths armed with rudimentary weapons such as metal bars were taken into the centre of town and on to the streets. Most residents stayed at home but a few ventured out to pray and to find water and food after being trapped in their houses during days of fighting.
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Thousands of pro-Ouattara troops massed on the city’s northern edge yesterday, poised for a final onslaught.
Mr Gbagbo has clung to power despite defections by high-ranking military officers that left his regime in tatters, and a lightning offensive on Abidjan by opposition forces last week.