The United Nations envoy in Côte d’Ivoire has strongly condemned Monday’s attack against a military base in Abidjan that left seven soldiers from the national army dead and seriously injured another dozen troops.
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An unidentified armed group attacked the military camp of the Forces républicaines de Côte d’Ivoire (FRCI) in the neighbourhood of Akouédo around 3:30 a.m., according to a news release issued by the UN Operation in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI). The group reportedly took arms and ammunition from the armoury before leaving the camp.
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“The provisional toll of the attack is seven dead and about a dozen seriously injured among the ranks of the FRCI,” UNOCI stated. It added that the Secretary-General’s Special Representative and head of UNOCI, Bert Koenders, strongly condemned the attack, as well as the others carried out at the weekend against the Ivorian defence and security forces.
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UNOCI has sent peacekeepers to help reinforces the FRCI in its efforts to secure the camp and its surrounding areas, as well as the main road leading to the camp.
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The other attacks targeted a police station and a checkpoint in Yopougon, Abidjan, and an FRCI camp in Abengourou, in the east of the country. There were reportedly no casualties in Abengourou, but five FRCI elements were reportedly killed in the attack in Yopougon.
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UNOCI was established in 2004 by the Security Council to facilitate the peace process in the country, which was split by civil war in 2002 into a rebel-held north and Government-controlled south.
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In the aftermath of the post-election violence that followed the 2010 presidential polls, the mission is assisting the West African with a number of key tasks, including the restoration of law and order, national reconciliation, the holding of legislative elections, and economic recovery.
