Factional clashes

Clashes between supporters of rival political parties, and between protesters and the security forces were reported on Tuesday in various Ivorian towns following a call for fresh elections by the leader of the Rassemblement des Republicains (RDR), Alassane Ouattara. , Clashes between supporters of rival political parties, and between protesters and the security forces were reported on Tuesday in various Ivorian towns following a call for fresh elections by the leader of the Rassemblement des Republicains (RDR), Alassane Ouattara. News organisations reported clashes in Daloa and Gagnoa, in the southwestern region of Haut Sassandra, between RDR and Front Populaire Ivoirien (FPI) supporters. The region is a stronghold of FPI leader Laurent Gbagbo, winner of Sunday's presidential polls. It is also the heartland of Gbagbo's Bete ethnic group, although many migrants from the north live there. The RDR is widely viewed as a party supported by northerners, who are overwhelmingly Muslim. Abidjan was also affected by Thursday's unrest. AFP reported that the car of a Christian priest was burnt in the suburb of Blokosso. AFP also quoted the Conseil national islamique (CNI-National Islamic Council) as saying that 14 people died in clashes between FPI and RDR supporters in the low-income suburb of Abobo, reputedly an RDR stronghold. The RDR later said the death toll was 20. In another low-income area, Adjame, gendarmes dispersed protesters by firing teargas and shots in the air on roads littered by smouldering debris. "It's the RDR guys," one gendarme told IRIN. "We don't know what they want. We are here to disperse them." Holding a sub-machine gun, he said members of the armed forces were helping the gendarmes keep order. But in the middle-to-high income area of Cocody, gendarmes could be seen fraternising with groups of youths armed with machetes, knives and sticks. "We marched (on Wednesday) but we did not break anything," one youth told IRIN in an apparent reference to reports that Thursday's demonstrators had plundered shops. "Alassane (Ouattara) has sent his friends to do damage," another youth told IRIN. "I am Baoule (an ethnic group from the centre of Cote d'Ivoire) and a supporter of the (former ruling) PDCI, but that has nothing to do with it. This is my country. They are burning my country." His companion said he supported the PIT, the Ivorian labour party, but he, too, was there to "defend the country". Ouattara's detractors allege that he is Burkinabe and claim that his supporters are mainly foreigners, first-generation Ivoirians and northerners. One of 14 candidates excluded from Sunday's election, his bid was rejected on the grounds that he failed the constitution's nationality requirements. Ouattara said on French radio and television that the polls were illegal and the whole process was flawed from the start. He said fresh elections could be held in late November on the date that had been set aside for a second round of the presidential elections. In an interview with Radio France Internationale (RFI), Gbagbo ruled out a new presidential poll. Told by his interviewer that South African President Thabo Mbeki had also suggested fresh elections, he responded: "Thabo Mbeki is not an Ivorian national, so it does not make much difference to me ... I went to the elections and I won. I shall exercise power in line with the constitution and the people's will." According to AFP, FPI militants and gendarmes attacked Ouattara's home on Thursday. AFP also reported that Ouattara sought refuge in the residence of the German ambassador and that he had a meeting there with General Mathias Doue, a key member of the military junta that took over after President Henri Konan Bedie was overthrown on 24 December 1999. Guei was forced out of power on Wednesday by public pressure after claiming victory in the election. However, the bulk of his cabinet has stayed on under Prime Minister Seydou Diarra pending the validation of Gbagbo's victory by the Supreme Court and his inauguration.