At least 68 bodies found in mass graves in Côte d'Ivoire

At least 68 bodies found in mass graves in Côte d'Ivoire

2011-05-10 00:58:44 GMT+7 (ICT)

UNITED NATIONS (BNO NEWS) -- The United Nations on Monday informed that at least 68 bodies were located in mass graves in Côte d'Ivoire, apparently victims of forces loyal to former president Laurent Gbagbo.

The UN peacekeeping mission in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI) said that a team of its human rights workers unearthed the bodies in Yopougon neighborhood, a suburb of the capital city Abidjan.

The staff workers found 10 mass graves containing the bodies of 68 people and the Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) launched an investigation to determine the cause of the massacre.

OHCHR staff members are interviewing the victims' families and witnesses to the killings to find out what happened. Forensic analysis will be performed as well to determine if the victims were soldiers or civilians.

"The team is still investigating what went on there," OHCHR spokesperson Rupert Colville said. "At the moment all we know is that the victims were all, or at least predominantly, male. Yopougon was a stronghold of hard-line pro-Gbagbo militia."

So far, the UN has determined that the killings took place on April 12, one day after Gbagbo was captured ending an armed conflict that lasted over four months due to his refusal to step down following the 2010 presidential elections.

The UN Human Rights Council established an international commission of inquiry to investigate the various killings and rights abuses that took place in Côte d'Ivoire. Meanwhile, the situation in the Abidjan suburb remains tense.

In December 2010, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) declared Ouattara as the winner of the November 28 election which was certified and ratified by the UN. Gbagbo rejected the results immersing the country in a conflict that killed hundreds of people and left up to 1 million Ivoirians displaced.

The 2010 presidential elections were meant to be the culminating point in reunifying a country split by civil war in 2002 into a Government-controlled south and a rebel-held north.

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