UNITED NATIONS, (Reuters) – The United Nations is investigating suspected arms transfers from Zimbabwe to Ivory Coast’s incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo in violation of U.N. sanctions, according to a report obtained by Reuters. The report emerged after a week of gun battles between forces loyal to Gbagbo and his rival Alassane Ouattara, almost universally recognized as winner of a Nov. 28 poll, that risk pushing the top cocoa grower back to full-blown civil war.
iplomats on the U.N. Security Council said the possible transfer of weapons to Gbagbo was a serious matter. They said his forces could use them against U.N. peacekeepers — UNOCI, who recognize Ouattara as Ivory Coast’s president — or Ivorian civilians who support Ouattara.
UNOCI’s confidential “Embargo monitoring report January 2011,” obtained by Reuters on Thursday, said the mission was gathering more information on “the arrival of light weapons cargoes from Zimbabwe.” U.N. officials told Reuters arms from Zimbabwe would have been intended for Gbagbo and not Ouattara.
In January, Gbagbo sent a special envoy to Harare to meet with and enlist the support of Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe, who like Gbagbo has been accused by his opponents of election fraud and is under U.S. and European Union sanctions.
