Ivorian coup bid causes exodus into Liberia

DAKAR, Wednesday

Thousands of Ivorians are fleeing into neighbouring Liberia following news of the failed coup attempt announced by the Ivorian authorities.

Cote d’Ivoire’s interior minister Mr Hamed Bakayoko accused forces loyal to the ex-president Laurent Gbagbo of perpetuating the failed coup which he said was planned in Ghana and Togo by exiled Ivorians.

Following the killing of the UN troops early this week, the two countries closed their borders while Monrovia assured Abidjan that it would never let its territory to be used a breeding ground for attacks into Cote d’Ivoire.

An initial exodus began on Monday with the killing of seven UN soldiers inside the Ivorian territory by armed men who allegedly cross the border from Liberia.

Since the aborted coup on Tuesday night, residents in the capital, Abidjan as well as in several parts of the country and the regions along the Liberian border are engulfed in panic and are scampering for safety.

Humanitarian workers said the exodus was especially heavy all along the estimated 200 kilometer-long northwestern and south western borders heading for towns and villages inside Liberia.

On Monday, Albert Brooks of the Danish Refugee Council who is working in the region, told reporters that the Ivorian refugees fled murders committed by unidentified armed men who set their houses ablaze.

Meanwhile, four civilians were killed early this week in new attacks in southwestern Ivory Coast, the United Nations said Wednesday, days after ambushes there left 18 dead including seven peacekeepers.

After the attack by “unknown assailants” south of the city of Tai, “the provisional toll is four dead and three wounded among the civilians. Two people are also missing,” UN spokeswoman Sylvie van den Wildenberg told AFP.

“Our troops are on the ground and have reinforced security for the population,” said van den Wildenberg, of the UN’s Ivory Coast mission known as ONUCI.

The violence started last Friday when unknown attackers killed seven peacekeepers from Niger, one Ivory Coast soldier and 10 civilians in ambushes which led to the closure of the border with Liberia.

At least 80 guerrillas staged the deadly ambush and the UN patrol was “taken by surprise”, the head of UN peacekeeping, Herve Ladsous, said Tuesday.