The members of Ivorian armed forces, known as FRCI, are accused of carrying out rapes, acts of torture, armed robberies and other abuses in several locations of the African country.
Kenneth Blackman, a spokesperson for the mission United Nations peacekeeping mission in Cote d’Ivoire today voiced deep concern about reports of numerous human rights violations by members of the country’s armed forces.
According to media reports, FRCI elements clashed earlier this week with locals in the southern town of Sikensi. Media reports indicated that four people were killed there, in part as a result of inter-ethnic tensions.
Mr. Blackman reported that Ivorian authorities are taking additional steps to improve the security sector and to improve discipline within the FRCI.
A military police unit has also been set up and a fund has been created to buy weapons, establish a reserve corps and renovate barracks and military camps.
He stressed that UNOCI will help authorities contribute to greater social cohesion and national reconciliation.
The United Nations Operation in Cote d’Ivoire (UNOCI), with the support of French forces, undertook a military operation to protect innocent civilians from escalating violence in the city of Abidjan on April 2011.
The UN has sent extra troops and equipment to the country to reinforce the 8,650-strong UNOCI and assist with security during the election period.
Outbreak of conflict erupted when outgoing president Laurent Gbagbo refuses to step down despite international recognition of opposition leader Alassane Ouattara as the divided country’s new head during the presidential elections last November 2010.
Turmoil rocked the Ivorian country when former president Gbagbo’s loyalists refused to accept defeat and started inciting terror after the elections.
