The conflict in Ivory Coast could spread to the whole of West Africa, especially to Liberia and Burkina Faso, warned the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres.
The clash between the units of outgoing Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo and his internationally recognized rival Alassane Ouattara could fuel long-term inter-ethnic tensions," Guterres said at a press conference in Geneva.
Clashes that erupted after presidential elections in November 2010, the result of which Gbagbo does not recognize, brought the country to the brink of civil war.
About 130.000 Ivorians fled to neighboring Liberia, and thousands more were internally displaced.
Guterres said that refugees from the Ivory Coast are going to the northern part of Liberia where a civil war was fought until 2003, and he points out that two ethnic groups were fighting in Liberia, which have similarities with the ethnic groups in the Ivory Coast.
Liberia needs to be supported in order to avoid its destabilization due to the influx of refugees to this area, where a civil war was fought for 14 years until 2003, Guterres said.
If the conflict in Ivory Coast continues, it could also destabilize Burkina Faso, whose three million inhabitants work in Ivory Coast.
According to Agence France-Presse, Laurent Gbagbo's regime is living its last hours. Alassan Ouattara's forces attacked Laurent Gbagbo's residence in Abidjan, Ivory Coast's largest city, and the top commander of Gbagbo's forces said he had called for a ceasefire.
Gbagbo still controls the presidential palace
Laurent Gbagbo is "surprised that France directly attacked the Ivory Coast", although he "never completely rejected dialogue", including within the African Union, the spokesman of Gbagbo's government, Ahua Don Melo, said today.
A lot of people died in the "bombing" of the UN and France on military targets in Abidjan, the spokesman said, explaining that members of their families live with military personnel in the bases.
The humanitarian situation in Abidjan has become "absolutely dramatic" for civilians caught between two fires, said today the spokeswoman of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Missions, Elizabeth Beers.
"The humanitarian situation has worsened and become absolutely dramatic in Abidjan where there is constant fighting," she said, adding that "most hospitals are not working, there is a lack of oxygen ... and ambulances also cannot move, because on they also shoot".
The spokeswoman also said that it is difficult for members of the UN mission to reach civilians for security reasons and "the bodies of the dead have been lying on the streets for days."
According to the data of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, dozens of people have been killed in the clashes in Abidjan in recent days.
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