Violence escalates in Ivory Coast

Abidjan, Ivory Coast (CNN) — Hundreds of people fled a pro-Alassane Ouattara neighborhood in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, where forces loyal to incumbent President Laurent Gbabgbo have been fighting an armed Ouattara supporters for the past week.

Ggagbo’s Army spokesman also said their forces fought armed supporters of Ouattara Thursday night in Yamoussoukro where two insurgents were killed and several wounded.

Violence sharply escalated over the last week in Ivory Coast’s commercial capital Abidjan and spread to the political capital Yamoussoukro as well as the west of the country, putting more refugees and displaced people on the roads. The government imposed a curfew from Friday to Monday morning.

The violence rose sharply mid-week after a mission of four African heads of state, mandated by the African Union to find a “binding solution” to the Ivorian post electoral crisis, left Abidjan.

Emanuel Djaman, a teacher in Abidjan, said he saw several bodies lying on the ground when he was leaving his school after it was shut down because of the fighting. Other witnesses fleeing the area reported heavy fighting and casualties.

The conflict was set off in November after a run-off presidential election between incumbent Laurent Gbagbo and challenger Alassane Ouattara — an election in which both men claimed victory. An independent electoral commission declared Ouattara the winner of the election, but Gbagbo has refused to step aside.

Ouattara is holed up in the Golf hotel in Abidjan under the protection of U.N. peacekeepers.

Earlier Friday, during a rally in Abidjan, Gbagbo’s minister of youth, Ble Goude, called on young supporters of the incumbent “to organize committees to impede by any means the movements of U.N. forces around the country.” He also told the youth to get ready to liberate “the Golf Hotel in one week from now.”

In a statement released Friday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed deep concern over the deteriorating situation in Ivory Coast, deploring recent clashes between rival groups as well as threats against the United Nations, including the call to impede the movement of peacekeepers.

“These developments mark a disturbing escalation which draws the country closer to the brink of reigniting civil war,” Ban warned.

In his Friday statement, Ban reiterated his call on both sides to exercise maximum restraint and to extend their cooperation to the African Union High-Level Panel. Hesaid he hopes that the panel will expedite its discussions and take decisions that will help prevent further violence and facilitate a peaceful settlement to the crisis.

Meanwhile, Gbagbo’s government accused U.N. troops of killing a police officer in Daloa.

Army spokesman Col. Babri Gohourou said on national television that the police officer went to the U.N. camp to negotiate the release of three Gbagbo supporters who were arrested during a demonstration. Gohourou said the U.N. peacekeepers shot the officer in the back while he was bringing the three young men away from the camp.

Earlier this week, government spoksman Ahoua don Mello alleged that the pro-Ouattara forces were engaged in “a revolution with the help of UN forces.”

U.N. spokesman Hamadoun Toure denied the allegations in a telephone interview.

The political standoff in the country has raised fears of a renewal of the bloodshed suffered after a civil war broke out in 2002.

More than 33,000 people have fled to neighboring Liberia since the crisis began; 20,000 more have been internally displaced, according to the United Nations.