One million flee Abidjan amid fears of all-out war

CNN: 

Nearly 1 million residents have fled Abidjan and others are displaced from their homes elsewhere in Ivory Coast's escalating bloodshed that started in December after a disputed presidential election, the United Nations refugee agency said Friday.

Not even that agency has been immune from the violence -- one of its warehouses came under attack Thursday in the town of Guiglo.

"This grave incident demonstrates the accelerated deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Ivory Coast which aggravates the suffering of the civilian population," said a statement from Bernard Valero, the spokesman for the French Foreign Ministry.

France and Nigeria submitted a draft resolution Friday to the U.N. Security Council that calls for sanctions against self-declared President Laurent Gbagbo and several others in his circle. It also urged the banning of heavy weaponry form the Abidjan area.

France's ambassador to the United Nations, Gerard Araud, said there have been many attempts to find a solution to the political stalemate, but Gbagbo has refused to cede power. The international community recognizes Gbagbo's challenger Alassane Ouattara as the legitimate winner.

Araud said the Security Council will take up the draft resolution next week.

A top U.N. official told the Security Council Friday blamed most of the violence on forces loyal to Gbagbo.

"The human rights situation is very grave, with a high number of human rights violations reported," said Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Atul Khare about the violence in Abidjan and also in the western regions of Ivory Coast.

Khare showed Security Council members pictures of some of the worst attacks in the past three months including the killing of seven women that was captured in a chilling video posted online. He also detailed an incident in which he said Gbagbo loyalists fired mortar shells into a market in Abobo, killing more than 25 people.

A spokeswoman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said the massive displacement of people is being fueled by fears of all-out war, not unfamiliar to the people of Ivory Coast. Divided over issues of land reform, identity and rights of citizenship, the west African nation exploded in a civil war in 2002.

The country was back on track to progress when the November election results shattered the peace.