Four pro-government protesters were killed in western Ivory Coast today when UN peacekeepers opened fire to repel an attack on their base in a third day of anti-UN riots, Ivorian and UN officials said.
The deaths were the first reported in violent protests this week by supporters of President Laurent Gbagbo who are demanding that UN and French peacekeepers withdraw from the West African country, which was divided in two by a 2002 civil war.
Government supporters began the protests this week to oppose a call by foreign mediators to end the mandate of the national parliament, which is dominated by Gbagbo loyalists. UN bases and vehicles have been attacked by hundreds of protesters.
The four protesters were killed when demonstrators stormed a base used by Bangladeshi UN peacekeepers at Guiglo in the west of the world's top cocoa producer, which is split between a government-controlled south and a rebel-held north.
"The Guiglo camp was stormed at about 4 am. this morning. They were repelled by Bangladeshi soldiers ... I know there are four from among the attackers (who were killed)," UN spokeswoman Margherita Amodeo said.
An Ivorian military commander, who also confirmed the deaths but asked not to be named, said UN peacekeepers had since evacuated from the western towns of Guiglo and Duekoue.
A French army spokesman said the four protesters who were killed had tried to take weapons and had climbed on to armoured vehicles. He said 12 more demonstrators had been injured.
In the commercial capital Abidjan, pro-government youths blocked streets and took over state television studios from where they broadcast demands for UN and French peacekeeping troops to leave.
An adviser to President Gbagbo said Nigerian President and African Union chairman Olusegun Obasanjo, who has helped mediate Ivory Coast's peace process, would arrive in the country later today.