ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast, April 8 (UPI) -- The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights said Friday it uncovered signs of a massacre committed against supporters of Laurent Gbagbo in western Ivory Coast.
A political stalemate simmering since November is pushing Ivory Coast closer to civil war. Gbagbo is refusing to step down despite international support for rival candidate Alassane Ouattara.
U.N. and French military raids forced Gbagbo to flee to an underground bunker at a presidential palace in Abidjan and attempts to negotiate his surrender have failed.
The human rights agency said it recovered 244 bodies from the western town of Duekoue, making the body count the highest since the November vote. U.N. groups last week said the death toll in Duekoue was more than 800. Many of the victims are thought to be from a group that is considered traditional supporters of Gbagbo, CNN International reports.
Valerie Amos, a U.N. undersecretary for humanitarian affairs, recounted tales of dead bodies, executions and mass displacement during a recent visit to Ivory Coast.
"I saw for myself the terrible impact that the violence, which is still taking place in the country, is having on ordinary people," she said in a statement.
Sources close to Gbagbo's inner circle told the Financial Times that the incumbent didn't want to accept terms proposed by U.N. and French negotiators and analysts said a power vacuum could spell trouble for Ouattara, an economist who once worked for the International Monetary Fund.
