20101231
reuters

UNITED NATIONS/ABIDJAN (Reuters) - U.N. advisers expressed grave fears on Thursday about ethnic violence in Ivory Coast after its disputed presidential election and Abidjan's new ambassador to the United Nations warned that the West African nation was on the "brink of genocide."

The two advisers reported signs "some leaders there are inciting violence between different elements of the population" during a standoff between incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo and challenger Alassane Ouattara after elections that were supposed to heal wounds of a civil war in 2002-03.

"Given the history of internal conflict in Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) such actions are highly irresponsible," a U.N. statement quoted Francis Deng and Edward Luck as saying.

Deng said allegations the Abidjan homes of political opponents of Gbagbo had been marked to identify their ethnicity were extremely worrying.

The advisers cited unconfirmed reports "of serious human rights violations by supporters of Mr. Laurent Gbagbo and by forces under his control as well as the use of inflammatory speech to incite hatred and violence."

World leaders have stepped up pressure on Gbagbo to quit in favor of Ouattara, who is widely recognized as having won the vote on November 28 in the world's top cocoa growing nation.

Ouattara and his advisers are holed up in the Golf Hotel in Abidjan, protected by U.N. peacekeepers known as UNOCI.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was "deeply alarmed" by reports that a member of Gbagbo's government has called for an assault on the hotel from January 1, his office said.

"Any attack on the Golf Hotel could provoke widespread violence that could reignite civil war," the statement said, adding UNOCI was "authorized to use all necessary means" to protect itself, Ouattara's group and civilians at the hotel.