GENEVA – Fears that post-election unrest in Ivory Coast will explode into all-out war have spurred up to 1 million people to flee their homes in the capital Abidjan, the U.N. refugee agency said Friday.
President Laurent Gbagbo has refused to cede office despite his rival Alassane Ouattara being recognized as the rightful winner of November's presidential elections.
"The massive displacement in Abidjan and elsewhere is being fuelled by fears of all-out war," Melissa Fleming, spokeswoman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, told reporters in Geneva.
The global body is also concerned that the fighting could spread to neighboring Liberia, which itself is recovering from years of conflict. Fleming said there are indications that Liberian mercenaries are arriving in Ivory Coast.
Meanwhile, the U.N.'s human rights office said at least 462 people have been killed in fighting since December and reports of 200 foreigners being killed in the west of the country.
Drive-by shootings of civilians by Gbagbo and Ouattara supporters are on the rise, said rights office spokesman Rupert Colville. He added that more than 5,000 young people have recently followed a call by Gbagbo to enlist in the army.
