Ivory Coast descending into chaos, claims UN

The United Nations has received hundreds of reports of people being abducted from their homes at night by armed assailants in military uniform and said there is growing evidence of "massive violations of human rights" since Ivory Coast's disputed election.

The statement from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights yesterday came a day after the UN said it would remain in Ivory Coast despite demands from the man refusing to give up the presidency that thousands of peacekeepers get out of the West African country.

Navi Pillay, the top UN human rights official, said that more than 50 people have been killed over the past three days in Ivory Coast.

"The deteriorating security conditions and the interference with freedom of movement of UN personnel have made it difficult to investigate the large number of human rights violations reported," Ms Pillay said in Geneva.

She also said that the armed assailants behind the abductions had been "accompanied by elements of the defence and security forces or militia groups".

International pressure is mounting for Laurent Gbagbo to concede defeat to opposition leader Alassane Ouattara, whose victory has been recognised by the UN, the US, the EU and the African Union.

The EU was giving Mr Gbagbo until yesterday to concede defeat or face sanctions that would include an assets freeze and a visa ban on him and his wife. The UN Security Council is also expected to meet today to discuss Ivory Coast's political crisis.

In a statement on Saturday, Mr Gbagbo's spokeswoman said that 9,000 UN peacekeepers and another 900 French troops supporting them were to leave the country immediately.