\n
STORY HIGHLIGHTS<\/b><\/p>\n<\/p>\n- NEW:<\/b><\/b> U.N. chief condemns killings, calls for Security Council action<\/li>\n
- At least 25 people were killed Thursday, the U.N. refugee agency says<\/li>\n
- France condemns the violence and calls for sanctions<\/li>\n
- Hundreds of thousands are displaced amid post-election bloodshed<\/li>\n
<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
(CNN)<\/b> — At least 25 people were killed in what the United Nations called Friday a shocking escalation of violence in Ivory Coast, wracked by an electoral crisis that many fear is sliding toward another civil war.<\/p>\n
France, Ivory Coast’s former colonial ruler, condemned Thursday’s “deliberate massacre of civilians” and called on the United Nations Security Council to adopt sanctions against self-declared President Laurent Gbagbo and his circle, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero.<\/p>\n
The international community has widely recognized Gbagbo’s challenger, Alassane Ouattara, as the winner of the November election and the legitimate leader of the west African nation.<\/p>\n
But Gbagbo has refused to cede power, the stalemate resulting in uncertainty and bloodshed.<\/p>\n
The United Nations refugee agency reported heavy shelling in the Abobo neighborhood of Abidjan that was responsible for the deaths. Many more were injured.<\/p>\n
U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon condemned the shelling and urged the U.N. Security Council to take “further measures” against thouse found responsible for the violence. He said the U.N. would “continue to take the necessary steps to protect the civilian population.”<\/p>\n
Earlier in the week, attacks were reported in other parts of Abidjan, the commercial center of Ivory Coast, said a spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.<\/p>\n
“We are shocked at the escalating violence in (Ivory Coast), particularly in Abidjan, where this week was by far the most violent since the post-election crisis began,” the agency spokesman said at a briefing Friday.<\/p>\n
A UNHCR monitor reported that 30 shops were burned Thursday and empty bullet shell casings littered the streets.<\/p>\n
A community radio station was also attacked and set on fire in the neighborhood of Adjame, and sporadic gunfire was heard in several districts of Yopougon, where heavy fighting took place Monday.<\/p>\n
The intensifying urban warfare has displaced hundreds of thousands of people attempting to flee to safer ground. About 75,000 have crossed borders, most into Liberia, according to the U.S. State Department. But thousands of others are out of their homes within Ivory Coast.<\/p>\n
Humanitarian agencies have reported hampered aid distribution due to security concerns and harassment.<\/p>\n
Human Rights Watch has blamed the violence on Gbagbo’s security forces and said their actions give “every indication of amounting to crimes against humanity.”<\/p>\n
\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/p>\n
[Read more here|Read the original here|Read more from the original source|Continued here|Read more|More here|View original post here|More|See more here|See original here|Originally posted here|Here is the original post|See the original post|The rest is here|Read the rest here|See the rest here|Go here to read the rest|Go here to see the original|See the original post here|Read the original post|Original post|Read the original|Link|Excerpt from|View post|Visit link|Follow this link|Continue reading here|See the article here|Read this article<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The bodies of three people killed in a street of the popular Abidjan district of Adjame as civil unrest rages on Friday. STORY HIGHLIGHTS NEW: U.N. chief condemns killings, calls for Security Council action At least 25 people were killed Thursday, the U.N<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-320754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\n
U.N. 'shocked' by escalating Ivory Coast bloodshed - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/18\/u-n-shocked-by-escalating-ivory-coast-bloodshed\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"U.N. 'shocked' by escalating Ivory Coast bloodshed - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"The bodies of three people killed in a street of the popular Abidjan district of Adjame as civil unrest rages on Friday. STORY HIGHLIGHTS NEW: U.N. chief condemns killings, calls for Security Council action At least 25 people were killed Thursday, the U.N\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/18\/u-n-shocked-by-escalating-ivory-coast-bloodshed\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/18\/u-n-shocked-by-escalating-ivory-coast-bloodshed\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"U.N. ‘shocked’ by escalating Ivory Coast bloodshed\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-03-18T19:20:24+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/18\/u-n-shocked-by-escalating-ivory-coast-bloodshed\/\"},\"wordCount\":549,\"commentCount\":0,\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/18\/u-n-shocked-by-escalating-ivory-coast-bloodshed\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/18\/u-n-shocked-by-escalating-ivory-coast-bloodshed\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/18\/u-n-shocked-by-escalating-ivory-coast-bloodshed\/\",\"name\":\"U.N. 'shocked' by escalating Ivory Coast bloodshed - Ghanamma.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-03-18T19:20:24+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/18\/u-n-shocked-by-escalating-ivory-coast-bloodshed\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/\",\"name\":\"Ghanamma.com\",\"description\":\"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"U.N. 'shocked' by escalating Ivory Coast bloodshed - Ghanamma.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/18\/u-n-shocked-by-escalating-ivory-coast-bloodshed\/","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"U.N. 'shocked' by escalating Ivory Coast bloodshed - Ghanamma.com","twitter_description":"The bodies of three people killed in a street of the popular Abidjan district of Adjame as civil unrest rages on Friday. STORY HIGHLIGHTS NEW: U.N. chief condemns killings, calls for Security Council action At least 25 people were killed Thursday, the U.N","twitter_creator":"@ghanamma","twitter_site":"@ghanamma","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/18\/u-n-shocked-by-escalating-ivory-coast-bloodshed\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/18\/u-n-shocked-by-escalating-ivory-coast-bloodshed\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"U.N. ‘shocked’ by escalating Ivory Coast bloodshed","datePublished":"2011-03-18T19:20:24+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/18\/u-n-shocked-by-escalating-ivory-coast-bloodshed\/"},"wordCount":549,"commentCount":0,"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/18\/u-n-shocked-by-escalating-ivory-coast-bloodshed\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/18\/u-n-shocked-by-escalating-ivory-coast-bloodshed\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/18\/u-n-shocked-by-escalating-ivory-coast-bloodshed\/","name":"U.N. 'shocked' by escalating Ivory Coast bloodshed - Ghanamma.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-03-18T19:20:24+00:00","author":{"@id":""},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/18\/u-n-shocked-by-escalating-ivory-coast-bloodshed\/"]}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/","name":"Ghanamma.com","description":"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=320754"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320754\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=320754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=320754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=320754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}