8 December 2011
Five people, including a candidate from the president’s party, have been killed in Ivory Coast since campaigning began five days ago for Sunday’s parliamentary elections, a junior minister said Thursday.
Among the dead were three people killed in a rocket attack in the south of the country on Wednesday, as well as a candidate from President Alassane Ouattara’s Rally of Republicans who was burnt to death and a young villager, junior defence minister Paul Koffi Koffi said on public television.
Koffi also said that some election candidates were being escorted by armed men.
“When you do that.., it’s a militia. Once again the government calls on the candidates to be responsible. You cannot have armed men accompanying you on your campaign trail,” he added.
Sunday’s poll is being held just a year after an election that brought the country back to the brink of war after former strongman Laurent Gbagbo disputed the results that gave victory to Ouattara.
Gbagbo is now in custody at the International Criminal Court in The Hague on charges of crimes against humanity over the conflict that claimed about 3,000 lives. – ANP/AFP
AllAfrica – All the Time