Two Killed In Ivory Coast Vote Clashes

Abidjan, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 23rd Aug, 2020 ) :Two people were killed in clashes in Ivory Coast that erupted between rivals armed with clubs and machetes after President Alassane Ouattara was chosen to run for a controversial third term, local sources said Sunday.

Young opposition supporters on Saturday took to the streets in several towns and cities, especially the southern cocoa growing hub of Divo, after Ouattara accepted his party's nomination for the October poll.

A dusk-to-dawn curfew has been imposed in Divo, where a bus station, bars and shops were set on fire and looted in the inter-ethnic violence.

A hospital source in Divo said one person had succumbed to their injuries on Sunday and that several more had been badly wounded by machetes.

Several local people also said they had seen the body of a teenager killed in a fire in a local bar.

Tensions have been running high in the world's largest cocoa producer over Ouattara's decision to stand in the October election despite having already served two terms -- the maximum permitted under the constitution.

He had planned to hand the reins to prime minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly, but his presumed successor died of a heart attack in July.

Ouattara was anointed as candidate by his ruling RHDP on Saturday, just over two weeks since he formally announced that he would run again.

His August 6 declaration triggered another bout of violence that left six people dead and about 100 more hurt.

The unrest has brought back painful memories of a brief civil war that erupted after the 2010 election, when then president Laurent Gbagbo refused to cede to the victor, Ouattara.

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"Going back on my decision was not easy" but "there is nothing preventing me from standing", Ouattara said at a mass rally of his Houphouetist Rally for Democracy and Peace (RHDP) party in Abidjan on Saturday.

The Divo clashes flared between the local Dida tribe and Dioula people from northern Ivory Coast who back Ouattara.

"It was very violent. The young men were armed with machetes and clubs. A lot of people were hurt and I saw a young man being beaten. He lost consciousness and had to be taken away," said one witness who asked not to be named.

Coulibay said that by the time he toured the city Sunday, "calm had been restored. There were a lot of police".

About 90 kilometres (55 miles) away, barricades were set up and tyres burned in Gbagbo's hometown of Gagnoa.

Election authorities had on Friday rejected an appeal by Gbagbo as well as former rebel leader Guillaume Soro to be allowed to run in October.

And in Bonoua, the hometown of former first lady Simone Gbagbo, buses, shops and the central market were torched, according to a local resident.