20110305
reuters

PARIS/BOUAKE, Ivory Coast (Reuters) - U.N. peacekeepers in Ivory Coast will be reinforced by 2,000 soldiers and have received two combat helicopters to face worsening violence between rival political factions, a U.N. official said.

The 8,000-strong United Nations force is trying to keep a stand-off between rival presidential claimants Laurent Gbagbo and Alassane Ouattara from tipping into a civil war, as clashes between factions loyal to each side grow increasingly violent.

Some 800 peacekeepers are stationed around a hotel in Abidjan where Ouattara, widely recognised as the winner of an election last year, has been holed up for three months hoping that economic sanctions will weaken Gbagbo's grip on power.

"What we are seeing is clearly an escalation of violence," Choi Young-jin, a U.N. representative in Abidjan, told the Liberation newspaper in an interview published on Saturday.

"Since February 19, incidents have gotten more serious."

On Thursday, Ivorian security forces loyal to presidential claimant Gbagbo shot dead seven women protesters, and the U.N. said at least 365 people had been killed in violence in the wake of a disputed general election last November 28.

Video footage of the all-women protest in the northern Abidjan suburb of Abobo, broadcast on Itele news channel, shows women screaming and at least two bloodied bodies on the road. An armoured vehicle marked "police" is visible in the background.

Young-jin said he was sending frequent patrols through the Abobo suburb. "We need to do everything we can to stop someone who wants to massacre civilians from making it happen," he said.

As the conflict grows more entrenched, Young-jin said he had not yet called on a French military unit stationed nearby.