ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast, Nov. 17 (UPI) -- The overall situation in Ivory Coast is relatively calm, but U.N. forces patrol a very tense Zone of Confidence separating government and rebel forces.
U.N. peacekeepers Wednesday patrolled sensitive areas in Abidjan to pre-empt any security risks to civilians 10 days after anti-French rioting and ethnic clashes erupted, the U.N. reported from the commercial capital. The clashes came after French troops destroyed the air force in reprisal for the deadly bombing of French peacekeepers in the ZOC.
Looters rampaged though Abidjan during the following days, harassing expatriates, forcing thousands of Ivorians and foreigners, mainly French, to flee. Government forces Nov. 4 started the latest crisis by attacking northern rebels in violation of a nearly two-year-old ceasefire agreement.
The U.N. Operation in Ivory Coast, set up in April to monitor the ceasefire and help implement peace accords signed in January 2003, said no international radio stations had been allowed to resume broadcasts and no opposition newspapers had reappeared, with the government holding a monopoly over the media.
However hate broadcasts that had raised the specter of further ethnic violence have reportedly given way to calls for restraint and a return to work.
