Ivory Coast president cuts off power and water to north

[maddezmom]

Source: The Guardian

Millions of people in rebel-controlled region left without vital supplies as country moves towards civil war


Thursday 3 March 2011 11.32 GMT Article history


The Ivory Coast president, Laurent Gbagbo, has cut off electricity and water supplies to millions of people in the north of the country "for political reasons", the UN has said.

The national power company reported that armed men entered its buildings on Monday night and ordered the shutdown, the latest step in an increasingly violent move towards civil war.

"The statement of the electricity company (says) this energy shortage is not due to technical issues," a UN official, Ndolamb Ngokwey, told the BBC. "They clearly said it has to do with the political situation, so it was cut for political reasons."

A war eight years ago divided the country into a rebel-controlled north and a loyalist south. Issia Doumbia, a spokesman for the New Forces rebels, who control the north and are loyal to Gbagbo's rival Alassane Ouattara, told the Associated Press: "Millions of people across the north are without water or electricity. During the entire war, Gbagbo never cut the people off. But now, things are turning bad fast."



Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/03/ivory-coast-president-cuts-power-north

[maddezmom]

1. UN: 200,000 people flee Ivory Coast fighting

UN: 200,000 people flee Ivory Coast fighting
More than 200,000 people have fled a suburb in Ivory Coast's commercial capital amid days of heavy street fighting that has left dozens dead and spread fears the country will slide back to civil war, the U.N. said Thursday.

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast —
More than 200,000 people have fled a suburb in Ivory Coast's commercial capital amid days of heavy street fighting that has left dozens dead and spread fears the country will slide back to civil war, the U.N. said Thursday.

Days of intense clashes have taken place in Abobo between police loyal to sitting president Laurent Gbagbo and rebel soldiers allied with his opponent, Alassane Ouattara.

Local U.N. human rights representative Guillaume Ngefa said Thursday that at least 26 people have been killed in Abobo in the last 24 hours alone.

The U.N.'s refugee agency also has expressed alarm about the dire conditions facing people trying to get out of the area, citing "reports of many dead bodies, buses burned and shops looted, and of young militiamen attacking people inside their homes."

more:http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2014382787_apafivorycoast.html

[maddezmom]

2. Ivory Coast: Women 'shot during pro-Ouattara march'

Security forces in Ivory Coast have shot dead at least five women marching in support of Alassane Ouattara in the main city of Abidjan, witnesses say.

Mr Ouattara is recognised by the UN as the winner of November's election, but incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo has refused to concede that he lost.

The shooting took place in Abobo, a pro-Ouattara stronghold which has seen violent clashes for more than a week.

It comes amid escalating tension between the two sides.

"Men in uniform drove up and started shooting randomly," Idrissa Diarrassouba, a resident in Abobo, told Reuters news agency.

more:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12637088

[No Elephants]

3. No end to what some will do to keep their power. Scary.

[Blue_Tires]

4. kick