UN warns of Cote d'Ivoire abuses

International body says it has received hundreds of reports of abductions, as post-election standoff continues.

The United Nations has said it is receiving growing reports of human rights abuses, including hundreds of reports of abductions in Cote d'Ivoire, which remains locked in a political crisis following last month's disputed election. On Sunday the UN human rights chief said the organisation had received hundreds of reports of night-time abductions carried out by armed assailants in military uniform. "The deteriorating security conditions in the country and the interference with freedom of movement of UN personnel have made it difficult to investigate the large number of human rights violations reported," Navi Pillay, the UN high commissioner for human rights, said in a statement. Pillay said that the armed groups behind the abductions had been "accompanied by elements of the Defence and Security Forces or militia groups". "Abducted persons are reportedly taken by force to illegal places of detention where they are held incommunicado and without charge. Some have been found dead in questionable circumstances," she said. Ama Boateng, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Abidjan, said she had heard reports that people in various areas across the country were "setting up their own kind of neighbourhood watch". "If, for example, they hear a knock on the door at night that they're not expecting, they may blow whistles or bang pots and pans to alert the entire neighbourhood," she said. Deteriorating situation Young-Jin Choi, the UN's Special Envoy to Cote d'Ivoire, speaking to Al Jazeera from Abidjan, confirmed that serious violations of human rights have occurred. "Our preliminary investigations confirm that there are more then 50 dead, 200 injured and 270 detained. We are also investigating the cases which we think are very serious," he said. "We, against road blocks and harassments by Gbagbo's forces, keep sending out patrols day and night to monitor and dissuade violations of human rights and violence." The US state department on Sunday ordered most of its personnel to leave Cote d'Ivoire because of what officials are calling a deteriorating political and security situation and growing anti-Western sentiment. Meanwhile, the EU imposed a travel ban on 19 Ivory Coast officials, including Gbagbo, Maja Kocijancic, European Commission spokeswoman said. The developments come a day after the UN refused to bow to demands by Laurent Gbagbo, the incumbent president, to pull its troops out of the country. Disputed elections Gbagbo's spokeswoman, appearing on national television on Saturday, said that the UN's 9,000 peacekeepers and another 900 French troops supporting them were to leave the country immediately. Gbagbo accuses the UN mission of backing and arming supporters of Alassane Ouattara, who the UN has said won the election over Gbagbo in a November 28 poll. Both men claimed victory in the election, but the UN, along with the United States, the African Union (AU) and Cote d'Ivoire's former colonial power France say Ouattara was the rightful winner. The post-election crisis turned violent last Thursday when security forces loyal to Gbagbo used live rounds to put down street protests by Ouattara supporters. Gbagbo allies said some protesters were armed and put the toll from the clashes at 20 dead, including 10 members of the security forces. The UN says that more than 50 people had been killed in recent days and more than 200 wounded. 'National tragedy' Nicholas Sarkozy, the French president, has warned that Gbagbo could face prosecution in the International Criminal Court (ICC) and renewed a call for him to stand down immediately. France, like the UN, has refused to pull its forces out of Cote d'Ivoire. But experts say there are few strong options for forcing Gbagbo from office, and it is unlikely the AU or others would back a military intervention that Raila Odinga, the Kenyan prime minister, has called for. "The trouble is both sides are clearly preparing now for conflict, and a cornered Gbagbo shows little sense of the national tragedy unfolding through his brinkmanship," Alex Vines, head of the Africa programme at Chatham House, an independent research centre in London, said. Vines said it was more likely that the African Union would seek a "soft landing" for Gbagbo, though it remained unclear whether he would consider such an exile offer.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

S Korea 'to hold' live-fire drills

Seoul appears unwilling to back down over planned military drills, despite UN fears and threats from the North.

North Korea shelled part of Yeonpyeong island last month [Reuters]

South Korea is set to press ahead with a live-fire military drill despite rising tensions with the North that have prompted an emergency United Nations Security Council meeting. Residents of Yeonpyeong island, which lies in disputed waters off the Korean peninsula's west coast, were ordered to move into air raid bunkers ahead of the military exercise on Monday, according to South Korean media. North Korea has threatened to strike if the South goes ahead with its military drill. Four South Koreans were killed on Yeonpyeong last month when the North shelled part of the island. Steve Chao, Al Jazeera's correspondent reporting from Incheon, said the drills "can start any moment as soon as the heavy fog lifts". "We've spoken to the office of the president and they say that this sort of drill is rather routine - it's been conducted several times over the past decade and, therefore, it should not be a point of alarm," he said. "However, North Korea has said that they feel these drills are provocative. We've seen government sources in the recent past come out [and] saying that the covers of artillery guns in the North have been removed and the guns pushed forward. "There is even talk that North Korean jets have been taken out of their hangers - possibly along the west coast in a possible attempt to launch an attack in the event that these drills go forward. "South Korea has also said it will return fire if North Korea attacks. So the tensions on the Korean peninsula are extremely high." Emergency meeting The UN Security Council met on Sunday amid the rising tension between North and South Korea, but failed to agree on a statement. The 15 member bloc was split over whether to publicly blame North Korea for touching off the crisis, with China, North Korea's staunchest supporter on the council, and Russia rejecting the idea of assigning blame to Pyongyang. Following the Security Council meeting, Vitaly Churkin, Russia's UN envoy, called for South Korea to halt its planned military exercises. "It's better to refrain from doing this exercise at this point in time," he said. Susan Rice, the US ambassador to the UN, said the impasse was unlikely to be bridged. UN divided The Reuters news agency reported diplomats as saying that a Russian draft statement called on both sides to exercise "maximum restraint" while a British draft statement had the council saying it "deplores" North Korea's latest actions. US and Chinese officials have described the situation on the Korean Peninsula as "extremely precarious" and a "tinderbox". But China has blocked recent Western attempts to get the Security Council to rebuke Pyongyang over the deadly artillery shelling of Yeonpyeong and the North's nuclear activities. The UN Secretariat distributed to council members a document on an investigation into the November 23 incident by the so-called UN Command, the US-led military forces in South Korea that monitor compliance with the 1953 Armistice Agreement that ended the Korean War. That probe concluded the South did not violate the armistice with its November 23 military drills in disputed waters, while the North committed a "deliberate and premeditated attack" that was a "serious violation" of the cease-fire, according to the document, the Reuters news agency reported.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

Haiti poll results delay rued

Spokesman for third-place election candidate tells Al Jazeera results must be released in coming days. A proposed delay to the announcement of Haiti's election results has been met with fierce criticism from some of the candidates. A spokesman for Marcel Martelly, the candidate who came third, told Al Jazeera on Sunday that the results must be declared soon after Christmas so that the run-off candidates can return to the campaign trail. "They have to come up with a result in a couple of days because the candidates will need time to go again out to the street to talk to the people," Daniel Supplice, a senior advisor to Martelly, said. "I believe on the 26th [of December] or 27th at the most the result has to come out, because the second turn of the election will be January 16." His comments follow a request by the Organisation of American States (OAS) to Rene Preval, the Haitian president, to delay announcing election results until an international panel of experts can review the vote. But that panel of up to five electoral, legal and information-technology experts has not been formed, raising concerns that the review could drag into the new year. Delay proposed A statement from the OAS said that Preval had agreed to submit the request to Haiti's provisional electoral council. Haiti's elections sparked protests after initial results showed Jude Celestin, Preval's handpicked candidate, had defied predictions to win a place in a second round. In his comments to Al Jazeera, Supplice reiterated the Martelly campaign's claim that the vote had been rigged. "We of course would like to win, this is why we're running, but what we say - and we've said it very clearly - we want the results of this election to reflect what the people have voted, that's all we've been asking for." Chaotic election According to the earlier results, Martelly appeared to have been ousted in the first round. The electoral commission plans a recount of tally sheets in the presence of the three main candidates, although both Mirlande Manigat, a former first lady who topped the poll, and Martelly have refused to take part. Final results from the first round of Haiti's chaotic election, held on November 28 amid widespread allegations of fraud, had been due on Monday. Martelly has before called for a re-run of the entire vote with all 19 candidates, and with the victor claiming the presidency.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies