Election-linked clashes have killed 85 in Ivory Coast, authorities says

ABIDJAN, Nov 11 (Reuters) – Eighty-five folks have been killed in violence linked to Ivory Coast’s disputed Oct. 31 election, the federal government stated on Wednesday earlier than a gathering between President Alassane Ouattara and a key opposition chief geared toward calming tensions.

The brand new loss of life toll doubles a earlier estimate of these killed in clashes between rival political supporters earlier than and after the vote, which handed Ouattara a 3rd time period that his opponents say is against the law.

Authorities spokesman Sidi Toure blamed the bloodshed on the opposition, which known as on its supporters to boycott the election and launched civil disobedience campaigns in current weeks.

“These protests had been designed to carry the nation to a whole standstill,” Toure instructed journalists.

He stated the 85 deaths included 34 earlier than the election, 20 on election day and 31 since then.

Whereas the violence has not been as widespread as some feared, many Ivorians fear a few repeat of the civil conflict that adopted the 2010 election. About 3,000 folks died within the conflict, which was fought largely alongside ethnic strains.

Ouattara was on account of meet former president and opposition candidate Henri Konan Bedie afterward Wednesday to debate the best way to resolve the stand-off, based on Toure and Bedie’s spokesmen.

Bedie’s get together and political allies stated on Wednesday that progress would solely be doable if the authorities met sure calls for, together with dropping felony expenses towards different opposition leaders for forming a rival authorities.

(Reporting by Loucoumane Coulibaly Further reporting by Ange Aboa Writing by Alessandra Prentice Modifying by Mark Heinrich)

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