It is no news now that seven United Nations peacekeepers and two civilians plus one soldier were killed by gunmen in Ivory Coast but now the Ivory Coast defence minister has pointed accusing fingers at Liberia saying the attack sprung from Liberia, that the gunmen behind the attack were from neighbouring Liberia.
The defence Minister; Paul Koffi Koffi said on Saturday that to assure of proper security to curb a further attack like Friday’s, a cross-border operations has been started by the Ivorian troops and as of the release of his statement there has not been any reaction from Liberia.
Earlier this week, New York-based Human Rights Watch warned that Liberian mercenaries and Ivorian fighters who fought on behalf of Gbagbo in the brief civil war last year were launching attacks on Ivory Coast from Liberia.
However, the United Nations has decided to reshuffle some of the troops who are in their thousands as there is now tension building the region which had a little stability since the end of the post-election violence months ago.
According to Koffi Koffi “These people came from the other side of the border. They are militias and mercenaries, and we must go to the other side of the border to establish a security zone. We will clean up and secure the zone. This will be done, of course, with the agreement of the two countries.”
Going back to the election period in the Ivory Coast, Alassane Ouattara won a 2010 election but only came to power after months of violence that killed thousands after incumbent Laurent Gbagbo refused to concede.
Liberia has denied accusations it is not doing enough to prevent the attacks.
After the incident on Friday, the U.N. Security Council “expressed their deep concern at the prevailing insecurity … and continued cross-border movements of armed elements, including militias and mercenaries”.