At least 41 dead in west Ivory Coast attack

ABIDJAN - Attackers have shot or hacked to death at least 41 people and burnt their houses in western Ivory Coast, sending hundreds fleeing and raising fears of revenge killings in a region where ethnic tensions run high.

The brutal killings on the outskirts of the cocoa-rich town of Duekoue left scores injured and underscored the fragility of the latest push for peace in the West African nation where a civil war has ebbed and flowed since 2002.

It was not clear what effect the attacks would have on an April peace deal between rebels and the government, but Duekoue residents said they feared more violence in an area that has been one of the war's bloodiest battlefields.

Army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jules Yao Yao said 41 people were shot or knifed in Wednesday's attack. He said 11 of the bodies were charred but it was not immediately clear whether they had been burnt alive. Sixty-four people were also injured in one of the deadliest bursts of violence in recent months.

Those killed on Wednesday were members of the Guere local tribe and lived in Guitrozon and Petit Duekoue, two villages on the edge of Duekoue. Witnesses said homes were smashed and burnt, with petrol canisters lying outside the torched ruins.

"People were sleeping and they were surprised. Armed men poured petrol on the homes. I saw broken and burnt homes," said Daniel By Smith, a bailiff who spoke to Reuters by telephone from Guitrozon. He said he could see burnt bodies in some homes.

Authorities imposed a 7pm curfew, and sent paramilitary police reinforcements but residents were scared.

"It's a terrible situation. I'm worried that there will be a civil war between civilians. I don't know what is being reserved for us after dark," said Mamadou Kone, a farmer in Duekoue.

"We heard that the locals have brought in reinforcements in militia fighters and Liberian fighters," he said.

The area around Duekoue is an ethnic tinderbox and the war has sucked in fighters from nearby Liberia, pro-government militias and rebels who have complicated age-old tribal rivalries often rooted in land disputes.

In May, up to 30 people were killed in ethnic clashes between local residents and farm labourers from outside.

"The situation is extremely tense," said Kim Gordon-Bates, spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross.

"One of our main concerns now is to get materials together for emergency shelters for 5000 to 10,000 people," he said.

Residents said many people were seeking shelter either in a Catholic mission in Duekoue or further afield.

"There are hundreds of people in the street today with their bags. They want to hide or to go to neighbouring villages," said Barthelemy Kouame, a member of a cocoa cooperative in Duekoue.

Civil war erupted in the former French colony in September 2002 when rebels tried to oust the president and seized the north. Hopes for peace were boosted by the April peace accord although similar deals have failed to end fighting in the past.

Duekoue is at the heart of a rich western cocoa-growing region, which produces some 300,000 tonnes of cocoa on average.

"We have taken refuge in town. There's no work going on at the moment," said Mamadou Cherif, a farmer on the outskirts of Duekoue. "Nobody can take the risk of going into the bush. There's no trade, shops have been shut since yesterday."

A UN official in Duekoue said they had been informed of Wednesday's attack and were trying to confirm the information.

There are some 6000 UN peacekeepers and 4000 French troops patrolling a no-weapons buffer zone between the rebel-held north and government-controlled south.

- REUTERS