Civil war fears grow as Ivory Coast gangs loot ministers' homes

Gangs of youths, actively aided and supported by uniformed police, this weekend ransacked at least ten houses belonging to senior ministers, mayors and other allies of the internationally recognised president of Ivory Coast, Alassane Ouattara.

Security forces loyal to incumbent Laurent Gbagbo - who refuses to cede power more than three months after the United Nations says he lost an election - also killed six unarmed women protesters on Thursday.

A witness reported seeing a truck belonging to elite paramilitary police force CECOS leaving the house belonging to Mr Ouattara's finance minister on Saturday, loaded with a refrigerator. He said it later returned to the house, owned by Charles Koffi Diby, leaving with a large safe.

Dozens of teenagers smashed the doors and windows of the house and later left wearing suits and robes, carrying dishes and other valuables, said the witness.

Senior Ouattara adviser Amadou Coulibaly said police recruit youths to participate in the lootings, which began on Thursday.

"They're trying to install an atmosphere of terror," he said, "but you can't do more than what they've already done, firing on unarmed women. They're getting desperate."

Thursday's killings were followed by a deluge of international reproach, with governments around the world expressing their disgust.

Britain's Foreign Office minister for Africa, Henry Bellingham, called again on Mr Gbagbo to step down.

Mr Bellingham added that he was "deeply concerned" about the situation in Ivory Coast and was "appalled" to hear that women were killed during a peaceful demonstration.

In a statement yesterday he said: "This is a deplorable and cowardly act against unarmed protesters calling for the results of the presidential elections to be respected.

"Gbagbo's continuing refusal to cede power ignores the will of the Ivorian people, challenges African democracy, and risks further violence and instability."

At least ten houses have been looted, according to witness reports. The houses belong to ministers and mayors in Mr Ouattara's RDR party, their family members and businessmen perceived as being pro-Ouattara.

Mr Ouattara is the internationally backed and UN-recognised winner of Ivory Coast's presidential elections.

Mr Ouattara women's issues adviser, Ami Toungara, had her house looted and burned on Friday. She said the looters made off with tanks of cooking gas and bags of rice as well as valuables.

She said police are targeting people they know to be at the Golf Hotel and unable to protect their houses.Mr Ouattara and his government have been confined to the luxury Golf Hotel since early December by security forces loyal to Mr Gbagbo.

Analysts fear that Ivory Coast's crisis will spill into full-blown civil war, and the UN has warned that the escalating violence could be leading in that direction.

Nearly 400 people have been killed since the 28 November election. The UN refugee body says more than 200,000 people have fled fighting in Abidjan in the last week and more than 70,000 have crossed the border into Liberia to avoid fighting in the country's west.

Charles Ble Goude, a minister in Mr Gbagbo's government who is also the leader of the violent youth organisation Young Patriots, called on "real" Ivorians to protect their neighbourhoods, block all UN vehicles and "denounce" foreigners last week.