Fighting Spreads as Ivory Coast Draws Closer to Return to Civil War

Fighting Spreads as Ivory Coast Draws Closer to Return to Civil War

Scott Stearns | Abidjan, Ivory Coast  February 26, 2011

Photo: AFP

People stand next to stores set on fire during clashes between supporters of Alassane Dramane Ouattara and soldiers of the FDS, loyal to outgoing president Laurent Gbagbo, in the Attecoube neighborhood, in Abidjan, February 24, 2011.

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Ivory Coast is moving closer to a return to civil war with rebels claiming to have captured new territory in the west and supporters of the incumbent president calling for attacks against foreigners and U.N. peacekeepers.

Incumbent president Laurent Gbagbo's youth leader says Gbagbo supporters should chase foreigners from their neighborhoods and block the movement of United Nations peacekeepers who he says are backing rebels allied with the U.N.-certified winner of the presidential election, Alassane Ouattara.

Gbagbo youth leader Charles Ble Goude says Ivory Coast's political crisis is now reaching a critical stage and it is time for what he calls "real Ivorians" to protect the country from foreign interference and U.N. peacekeepers who he says are waging war on behalf of rebels.

Rebels say they have captured two towns near the Liberian border that were previously part of a buffer zone between the rebel-held north and areas controlled by the pro-Gbagbo military.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says fighting in the west coupled with clashes in the political capital, Yamoussoukro, and continued fighting in the commercial capital, Abidjan, are a disturbing escalation of the political crisis that is drawing the country closer to re-igniting civil war.

Ibrahim Wani, who heads the Africa branch of the U.N. human rights office, says there is serious concern about the recruitment of young militants as a force for further violence.

"So long as this stalemate continues and the arming goes on, we have had an intensification of inter-communal violence. I am afraid that the situation of protection of civilians does not look good at all," he said.

The United Nations says at least 315 people have been killed since the release of election results in early December. Wani says the human rights situation has deteriorated in areas held by both Gbago and Ouattara supporters.

"Most of the human rights violations, the most serious that have been reported, have been committed by the security forces under the control of Laurent Gbagbo mostly in the Abidjan area," he said. "Nonetheless, there have been some human rights violations in the northern and western parts as well including reports of rape that have taken place in the western part in relation to some inter-communal violence."

Gbagbo's government says a U.N. peacekeeper shot and killed an Ivorian police officer Friday during the handover of pro-Gbagbo protesters who had been arrested earlier in the day. A spokesman for the U.N. mission in Ivory Coast says no one was killed in the prisoner exchange, but peacekeepers did fire their weapons in the air to disperse a pro-Gbagbo crowd.

TRIPOLI ....LIBYA FEB 2011

FOTO BY  CHUKBYKE

8 cancerogeni che teniamo in casa senza saperlo

8 cancerogeni che teniamo in casa senza saperlo

In certi detersivi e in situazioni apparentemente innocue sono nascoste sostanze molto pericolose per la salute. Quali sono, come evitarle

Staibene - gio 10 feb 2011 01:00

La casa è più bella e più sana, quando è pulita. Ma dietro la sacrosanta voglia di pulizia tra le pareti domestiche, c’è un rischio che corriamo senza saperlo. Diversi prodotti che usiamo abitualmente, e che troviamo senza problemi nei supermercati, contengono sostanze potenzialmente pericolose per la nostra salute perché cancerogene. Qualche esempio? Formaldeide, nitrobenzene, cloruro di metilene, naftalina. Per non dire di altri ingredienti capaci di provocare allergie o asma, e problemi a fegato, reni, cervello e apparato riproduttivo. Per fortuna è abbastanza facile intervenire per sostituire i prodotti più "a rischio" con alternative non tossiche e altrettanto efficaci. Tuttavia, meglio conoscere almeno 10 dei principali aspetti ­ al di là dei semplici detersivi ­ che sarebbe meglio tenere d’occhio quando si parla di salute e sicurezza in casa.

1) Deodoranti per l’ambiente - Possono contenere naftalina e formaldeide. Meglio sostituire con qualcosa che contenga zeolite o fragranze naturali da oli essenziali.


2) Prodotti per l’arte - Se avete l’hobby dell’arte (pittura, scultura, bricolage…), occhio a colle e mastici epossidici, pitture acriliche e solventi, i pennarelli indelebili: spesso contengono sostanze cancerogene.

3) Candele ­ Evitate quelle alla paraffina aromatizzate artificialmente: producono sostanze pericolose (fuliggine compresa). Molto più sicuro usare soltanto candele in cera d’api, con stoppino in cotone.

4) Shampoo e detergenti per tappeti e moquette - Cercate soltanto quelli che abbiano ingredienti naturali.


5) Abiti lavati a secco - Preferire abiti che non richiedano percloroetilene per essere puliti: sempre meglio il lavaggio con acqua, che quello a secco; eventualmente, cercate lavaggi a secco che usino anidride carbonica liquida o detergenti a base di succo di agrumi.


6) Antipulci, zecche e pidocchi - Evitate insetticidi a base di lindano.


7) Pitture e vernici - Privilegiate i prodotti che a basso contenuto di composti organici volatili (Voc), meglio ancora quelli che non ne hanno affatto.


8) Microonde - Meglio non cuocere o riscaldare i cibi nei contenitori di plastica, anche se sono quelli studiati apposta per finire nel forno a microonde. Preferite contenitori in ceramica o coccio.

fonte

TRIPOLI closing party/ dinner

Th histoic conference fo African migrants --Triopli (closing ceremony)