Abidjan: A UN-guarded refugee camp in Ivory Coast was attacked by around 300 people on Friday. The mob looted the shelters, burnt them down and killed at least five of the refugees, according to officials.
About 90 per cent of the Nahibly camp, which used to house some 4,500 people, was burnt to ashes in the attack near the western town of Duekoue, said the UN refugee agency`s country representative Ann Encontre.
Most of the camp residents fled to the surrounding forest to escape the attackers, she said. A number of residents were injured, but exact figures were not immediately available.
One camp dweller was killed with a machete and three are presumed to have died from gunshot wounds. The fifth victim died in the raging fire, she added.
Ivorian officials said the attack came in response to the killing of four residents of nearby Duekoue town last night which locals blamed on camp dwellers after the attackers reportedly fled there.
The UNHCR camp housed people displaced by the violence that erupted after the West African nation`s disputed November 2010 election. Thousands were killed in the postelection violence.
The gruesome attack reflects the country`s persistent political tensions between supporters of former ousted President Laurent Gbagbo, who refused to accept defeat at the polls in 2010, and the loyalists of democratically elected President Alassane Ouattara.
The four people killed in the attack yesterday belonged to an ethnic group that largely backed Ouattara, and the camp mostly houses Gbagbo supporters.
Meanwhile, there were conflicting reports about the security forces` role, which failed to protect the camp.
Resident Iro Firmin was among those accusing the military of using the killings last night as a pretext to eradicate the camp. "It was a planned action," Firmin claimed.
"They did it because they wanted all the displaced people to go back home." But army spokesman Cherif Moussa said soldiers prevented the situation from escalating. "The situation did not become dramatic because of the (army`s) presence," he said.
Duekoue was the site of the most lethal episode of the 2010-11 postelection violence. Hundreds of residents were killed with guns, knives and machetes in one neighbourhood in March last year. A UN investigation has established that "at least 505" people were killed in Duekoue and the surrounding villages during the postelection violence.
Meanwhile, most of the refugees remained in hiding late today, with Encontre saying the agency will try to assist them once they return.
PTI
