Once-stable Ivory Coast at war with itself

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (Reuters) -- In one corner of town, political and ethnic rivals fight hand-to-hand with machetes and clubs studded with nails.

In another, a protester is burned alive.

Near the plush Cocody district, home to ambassadors and Ivorian personalities, a child is shot dead in crossfire.

Ivory Coast, the West African country that independence President Felix Houphouet-Boigny built into a haven of peace in a troubled continent, is at war with itself.

Rival protesters attacked mosques and churches in the main city Abidjan on Thursday as political unrest took an ethnic and religious turn.

At least 10 people were killed, in addition to some 60 who died on Tuesday and Wednesday in huge people-power protests that swept military ruler General Robert Guei from power.

The clashes erupted the morning after Guei fled the city, denounced on all sides for having rigged Sunday's presidential election.

Youths loyal to Ouattara, who was excluded from Sunday's election and draws his support from the Muslim north, set up barricades and burned tires to demand new elections.

Supporters of president-elect Laurent Gbagbo, who spearheaded the anti-Guei protests and comes from the Christian and animist West, staged rival protests.

"It's very serious here," one resident of the city's biggest suburb Yopougon told Reuters. "I have seen three bodies."

Clashes and standoffs were reported from many districts across the city. Witnesses reported churches and mosques ransacked in Yopougon and elsewhere.

Protesters overturned cars and clashed with police and gendarmes, who responded with tear gas, stun grenades and by shooting in the air.

PROTESTER BURNED ALIVE

One supporter of Ouattara's Rally of the Republicans (RDR) was burned to death in Yopougon, witnesses said. Two protesters were shot dead in Abobo, another teeming suburb, in a clash with security forces.

In the southwestern port of San Pedro, residents said that Ouattara supporters had set up roadblocks across town paralyzing traffic.

The port ships about half of the cocoa crop in Ivory Coast, the world's top producer.

One activist, law student Doumbia Ibrahim, said he and his comrades wanted to see new elections.

"We were in the streets yesterday to get General Guei to go and his constitution with him," he said.

Guei, who had declared himself winner of Sunday's poll, fled in the face of massive street protests by Gbagbo supporters.

Soldiers loyal to Guei fired into the demonstrators on Wednesday. Gbagbo's party said that at least 60 people had been killed over the two days of protests.

Traffic in Abidjan was extremely light on Thursday and many people ignored government calls to return to work. There were few buses or private minibuses.

"People are staying at home, they're worried about criminals and the RDR," one man said, walking down the middle of the road in the central district of Plateau.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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