The top U.N. peacekeeper in Ivory Coast said on Wednesday that his forces did not have a mandate to disarm warring parties in the divided West African country and called for more resources. Gen. Abdoulaye Fall was speaking in Senegal's capital Dakar after a meeting between commanders of U.N. peacekeeping missions in West Africa -- a region torn by a series of conflicts and uprisings in recent years. "I suppose that when the international community asks the (peacekeeping) forces in Ivory Coast to disarm whomsoever, it will provide the means to disarm those who need to be disarmed, but for the moment, the forces do not have the mandate," Fall said. Ivory Coast was split in two after a rebellion in Sept. 2002 sparked a civil war. Rebels seized the north of the former French colony and thousands were killed in fighting. A string of peace deals has failed to end the conflict in the world's top cocoa grower and some 6,000 U.N. peacekeepers and 4,000 French troops are policing a no-weapons ceasefire zone between the two sides. Supporters of Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo have demanded that the French and U.N. troops disarm the rebels, who insist they will only hand over their weapons when a string of political reforms have been implemented. --More 2336 Local Time 2036 GMT
