UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expressed “sadness and outrage” at a recent deadly attack on peacekeepers in Ivory Coast, the UN reported on its website.
According to the UN Operation in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI), the peacekeepers were ambushed when patrolling areas in the west of the country, south of Tai.
“I call on the Government of Côte d’Ivoire to do its utmost to identify the perpetrators and hold them accountable for this deadly attack,” Ban told journalists.
According to the United Nations, UNOCI was founded in 2004 by the UN Security Council to promote the peace process in the country, split by civil war in 2002 into rebel-held north and government-controlled south.
The mission’s current mandate ends on July 31. UNOCI is helping Ivory Coast address challenges it has faced after violence that followed the 2010 presidential polls and the electoral crisis that ended in April 2011, including restoration of law and order, national reconciliation, legislative elections and economic recovery.
