UN. CONCERN OVER HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN IVORY COAST

March 31, 2005: the United Nations mission in the Ivory Coast expressed concern over serious human rights violations including summary executions, abductions and torture which had occurred over the last two months.
The UN mission said in a report covering January and February that there had been human rights violations by both the government forces controlling the southern part of the country and the New Forces rebel group controlling the north.
Ivory Coast remained divided into government and rebel areas despite a fragile peace accord that formally ended a rebel uprising against President Laurent Gbagbo in September 2002. Tensions had been on the rise again since November 2004, when the government violated an 18-month ceasefire with three days of air strikes on rebel-held towns, sparking a wave of violence. (Sources: Agence France Presse, 31/03/2005)