AFP - The tension rose Monday between the camp of Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo and the outgoing United Nations about an alleged case of delivery of weapons, while the humanitarian situation was deteriorating in Abidjan after fighting between government forces and pro-Gbagbo insurgents.
At the request of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, the Security Council of the UN was discussing a possible meeting after information on the current delivery of three attack helicopters from Belarus and support material in Yamoussoukro (center) for the forces loyal to Mr.Gbagbo.
But Belarus has denied any violation of the arms embargo imposed in 2004 and denounced a "possible destructive campaign" against him.
The Gbagbo government has condemned a "conspiracy" and a "lie to justify an attack" from the UN.
He accused the UN mission in the country, UNOCI, which he calls the start of being complicit in the 'rebel' Forces Nouvelles (FN), combined with Alassane Ouattara - head of state recognized by the international community - which he believed to have infiltrated Abidjan.
The climate was still heavy in the economic capital with sporadic gunfire reported in several districts since Sunday, including in areas hitherto preserved as the plush Cocody district (east).
Fief of Mr.Gbagbo, the popular Yopougon (west) is now dotted with checkpoints "young patriots", his ardent supporters.Sometimes armed with machetes and clubs, they demand to search vehicles.
Their leader Charles Ble Goude called last week young people to "organize themselves into committees" to prevent "by all means" to move UNOCI.
Gbagbo's camp is over "harassment" against the UN "the act of direct hostility," he said Monday in Dakar Choi Young-jin, the head of UNOCI.
He said that three peacekeepers were injured by pro-Gbagbo forces this weekend in Abobo, a district pro-Ouattara in the north of Abidjan.
Abobo last week became the scene of clashes involving heavy weaponry between the pro-Gbagbo and rebels.
At Abobo, but also in the neighboring Anyama, the humanitarian situation was becoming increasingly worrisome background of the population exodus.
Some 3,000 people have already sought refuge in two Catholic missions, "in a crowded indescribable," he told AFP Abbe Augustin Obrou, spokesman for the archdiocese of Abidjan.
