UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 6 (UPI) -- United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan Saturday called for an end to the violence in Ivory Coast, which has killed nine French troops and an American.
"[I] think what is important is that the hostilities stop immediately," Annan said. "[W]e don't want to see the situation aggravated."
On Thursday, the Ivory Coast military broke a year-long ceasefire in the country's civil war by authorizing air strikes against rebel forces.
The French government retaliated to the death of its soldiers by destroying five Ivory Coast aircraft, the BBC said.
Soon thereafter, mobs clashed with French troops in Abidjan, the capitol of Ivory Coast, the BBC reported.
The secretary-general's remarks followed an emergency meeting of the Security Council, at which the body condemned the attack and agreed to authorize U.N. peacekeepers and French troops to use any means necessary to quell the violence, a spokesman for the U.N. said.
