UN troops back after riots
23/03/2006 22:08 - (SA)
Abidjan - UN peacekeepers have started
returning to the west of war-divided Ivory Coast after
abandoning their bases during anti-UN riots in January, the
mission's military spokesperson said on Thursday.
Several hundred blue helmets fled four bases during the
riots across the government-controlled south, after shooting
dead five youths who broke into their base in the town of Guiglo
and tried to steal weapons.
UN military spokesperson Omar El Khadir said the
redeployment to the nearby town of Toulepleu, near the Liberian
border, had gone smoothly despite armed local militias having
said they would oppose the peacekeepers' return.
"Contacts (with Ivorian authorities) enabled the
redeployment to take place smoothly. "The population are
generally in favour of it," he told reporters at a weekly news
conference at the mission's Abidjan headquarters.
He said troops from Bangladesh and Benin had returned to the
base.
About 7 000 UN blue helmets and 4 000 French peacekeepers
separate rebel troops, who have held the north of the country
since a 2002-03 civil war, from government troops in the south.
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