President Alassane Ouattara stamped his new authority on Ivory Coast yesterday, as troops formerly loyal to his ousted rival Laurent Gbagbo flocked to his banner despite ongoing violence.
United Nations peacekeeping chief Alain Le Roy told reporters in New York, however, there was still fighting and “quite a lot of looting” despite President Ouattara’s victory over Mr Gbagbo’s attempt to cling to power.
“There are still people with arms, it is still dangerous but there are no more blockades,” he said, as UN peacekeepers and French troops worked with the new government to restore order in the port city of Abidjan.
Mr Ouattara’s forces captured Mr Gbagbo on Monday after storming his Abidjan palace, finally ending a four-month armed stand-off that began when both men claimed to have won a disputed Presidential election.
President Ouattara’s election victory has been recognised by the international community, and most countries have welcomed Mr Gbagbo’s downfall, but troops from both sides have been accused of atrocities during the conflict.
The new President has vowed to create a truth and reconciliation commission to investigate the allegations, and has given himself two months to restore order across the cocoa-rich west African nation.
Mr Ouattara also called on the International Criminal Court to probe massacres carried out in the west of the country, where both his troops and Mr Gbagbo’s were accused of taking part in the massacre of hundreds of civilians.
Mr Ouattara’s Republican Forces patrolled Abidjan’s streets, sometimes alongside Ivorian gendarmes, driving civilian vehicles requisitioned for the purpose, AFP correspondents reported.
Elsewhere in the commercial capital, soldiers queued at petrol stations to fill up jerry cans.
Around 500 French forces from the former colonial ruler’s Licorne mission patrolled north and south Abidjan, French armed forces spokesman Colonel Thierry Burkhard said, adding that looting was ongoing in some districts.
The French force’s priority is now to support UN peacekeepers in ensuring “a return to normal life” in Abidjan, Col Burkhard said.
French gendarmes are also to start joint patrols with President Ouattara’s Republican Forces.
Taxis were also back on the streets in the south of the city, often filled with women returning from market laden with food after days of shortages.
A few neighbourhoods were scarred by the fighting, but signs of looting were evident almost everywhere.
The World Food Programme has stopped its distribution after its entire stock of 3,000 tonnes of food was looted.
The UN called on President Ouattara to form a “broad-based” government and appealed to all Ivorians “to refrain from reprisals, vengeance or provocation... and work towards national reconciliation and establishing a lasting peace.”
Leading members of Mr Gbagbo’s security forces continued to rally to Mr Ouattara, including General Georges Guiai Bi Poin, head of the formerly feared “Cecos” special forces unit, presidential spokesman Anne Ouloto said.
The United Nations mission in Ivory Coast, which is safeguarding Mr Gbagbo and his associates pending their trial, said the ousted leader had been flown out of Abidjan “to a presidential residency in the north of the country”.
With the world’s number one cocoa producer divided by the conflict, President Ouattara said he had ordered an immediate resumption of exports, which were frozen by sanctions slapped on Mr Gbagbo.
A backlog of around 400,000 tonnes of cocoa accumulated on the dockside in Abidjan and the southwestern port of San Pedro during the crisis.
Rights group Amnesty International has warned that Mr Gbagbo’s supporters were at risk of violent reprisals, despite both Mr Ouattara and Mg Gbagbo having called for fighters to lay down arms.