President Laurent Gbagbo appointed a military governor for volatile western Ivory Coast, where up to 70 people were hacked or shot to death in recent violence, part of new security measures meant to restore calm in the war-divided nation ahead of October elections. In a speech late Friday, Gbagbo announced the appointment for the Moyen Cavally region, which comprises the cocoa-growing town of Duekoue where bloody violence has flared between immigrant farmers and local landowners of the Guere ethnic group over the last several weeks. The Associated Press quoted Gbagbo also saying that he had set up a rapid intervention force in the main city Abidjan, saying "insecurity and violence have become insupportable" there. "Security is the best way of assuring that elections go ahead as the constitution of our country prescribes," he said. "What happened in Duekoue is morally, politically and militarily unacceptable." --SP 1415 Local Time 1115 GMT
