Outbreak of shooting in town on Liberian border

Heavy shooting broke out in the government-held town of Zouan Hounien on the Liberian border on Thursday, causing hundreds of residents of nearby villages to flee their homes. Zouan Hounien is close to the front line with rebel forces which control the north of the country. A heavily armed government army garrison is based there. An IRIN correspondent traveling from rebel to government territory drove through Zouan Hounien on Thursday morning and found the small town quiet and almost deserted. However, a few km south of Zouan-Hounien, her vehicle was stopped by anxious villagers who wanted to know the cause of 30 minutes of heavy gunfire, which had been heard in the town shortly beforehand. They said this included the explosion of artillery rounds. For several km to the south the road was littered with groups of people fleeing their villages. Many others were heading into the bush An Ivorian army commander in the district told IRIN in Abidjan by telephone that disgruntled unpaid soldiers based in Zouan-Hounien were responsible for the shooting, which had been going on intermittently for 24 hours. The commander, who asked not to be named, stressed that there had not been any attack on the town. He said the garrison in Zouan-Hounien consisted of heavily armed special forces charged with patrolling the Liberian frontier as well as guarding the frontline with rebel forces. A spokesman in Abidjan for the 4,000-strong French peacekeeping force in Cote d’Ivoire said he also understood that the shooting in Zouan-Hounien was a protest by unpaid government soldiers. However, French peacekeepers based in the small town of Bin Houye, 20 km south of Zouan Hounien told IRIN they did not know the cause of the gunfire. Diplomats and relief workers have recently expressed alarm at persistent reports of fighters of the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL) rebel group crossing the border into Cote d’Ivoire. They say MODEL received strong support from the Ivorian government when it emerged as fighting force early last year. Many of its gunmen previously fought in support of government forces in Cote d’Ivoire. Liberia is now at peace and relief workers fear that a large scale return of the MODEL fighters to Cote d’Ivoire could further destabilize the already volatile west of the country. The problems are not just on the government side of the frontline. Residents in the rebel-held town of Man said a week-long outbreak of shooting between rival rebel factions in the town only came to an end on Tuesday after a force of 600 fighters was sent in by the rebel leadership from other parts of the north to restore order.