The U.N. said on Thursday that at least 173 people have been killed in the Ivory Coast by violence connected to the recent disputed presidential election.
According to a U.N. human rights official, there have been 90 instances of torture and ill treatment. According to the representative of U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon, the representative was personally prevented from visiting a site suspected of containing a mass grave.
“I went there and we were about to enter into negotiations then reinforcement came with young men mounted on pickup trucks … with rocket launchers directly aiming at us,” the official said in a U.N. statement.
The violence flared up after incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo refused to step down after losing recent elections.
