At least 260 people have been killed since December in post-election violence plaguing the Ivory Coast, the United Nations said Friday, after 13 people were killed in the last week, according to dpa. A total of 68 people are deemed missing, seven higher than in the previous report last week, said Rupert Colville, a spokesman for the UN Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Those who died were killed by gunfire or machetes, Colville said. There were also reports of gang rapes by forces loyal to incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo, including of men connected to the opposition. This week the African Union again failed to persuade Gbagbo to hand over power to Alassane Ouattara - the man the world recognises as the rightful winner of November's presidential election. Meanwhile, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said it was calling on governments to suspend all returns of asylum seekers to Ivory Coast, "pending improvements in the security and human rights situation." Since the elections "abductions, disappearances, extra-judicial executions and acts of sexual violence have been reported in Abidjan and elsewhere," said UNHCR spokesman Andrej Mahecic. Some 18,000 people are internally displaced in Ivory Coast and neighbouring Liberia is hosting about 30,000 refugees.
