MOSCOW, April 5 (Xinhua) — Russia asked for verification why the UN peacekeeping forces have been involved in the combat operations in Cote d’Ivoire, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday.
« The peacekeepers have a mandate which obliged them to stay neutral and unbiased, » Lavrov said. He added that the Russian Foreign Ministry has been studying the judicial content of the situation.
Russia has asked for an emergency briefing of the UN Security Council, but has not received any clear answer so far, Interfax news agency reported.
« Situation (in Cote d’Ivoire) is not getting better, it is getting worse, » Lavrov said.
Moscow urged all parties of the conflict in this country to guarantee that no civilian would fall victim to their hostilities, the Russian foreign minister said.
Cote d’Ivoire’s incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo has been locking horns with his rival Alassane Ouattara over the results of the Nov. 28 presidential run-off, though the latter has been widely recognized as the winner, plunging the country into another civil war in eight years as fighting broke out between forces loyal to them in December.
Reports said that both French and UN helicopters fired on a military camp held by Gbagbo’s forces on Monday in the economic capital of Abidjan.
Ouf ! Il ne manquait plus que ça ! La xénophobie. Le racisme. Tous ont désormais un pays d’adoption. C’est Read more
