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Côte d'Ivoire

Gbagbo loyalists shot at arms investigators, says UN

The UN mission in Côte d'Ivoire says experts investigating the suspected breach of an international arms embargo were fired on by forces of strongman Laurent Gbagbo in Yamoussoukro. The UN says that the government of Belarus may be providing attack helicopters to forces loyal to Gbagbo.

Reuters/Vasily Fedosenko
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UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon accused Belarus of sending three attack helicopters and other equipment to Gbagbo.

The UN sent sanctions experts Monday to Yamoussoukro to investigate, but they were unable do so because they were shot at when they arrived at the airport.

“They couldn’t get through because they were blocked by the soldiers there, and they were fired at,” Hamadoun Touré, spokesman for the UN mission in Côte d'Ivoire, told RFI on Tuesday.

Both Belarus and Gbagbo's regime strongly denied the allegations, which if true would be in violation of an international arms embargo against Côte d'Ivoire.

Ban said after talks at the White House with US president Barak Obama on Monday that the information is credible.
 

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