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UN: Ivory Coast forces kill 26 in past month, arrest dozens illegally

From Eric Agnero, CNN
Guillaume Ngefa, of the U.N. mission in Ivory Coast, said that at least 85 people were illegally detained (file photo).
Guillaume Ngefa, of the U.N. mission in Ivory Coast, said that at least 85 people were illegally detained (file photo).
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • The killings include a 17-month-old, U.N. says
  • U.N.: At least 85 people are illegally detained
  • A government official rejects the report as "incomplete"
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Abidjan, Ivory Coast (CNN) -- Forces loyal to the Ivory Coast president killed 26 people and arrested dozens illegally in the past month, according to the United Nations.

The killings, which included a 17-month-old, occurred in communities loyal to former strongman Laurent Gbagbo, said Guillaume Ngefa of the U.N. mission in Ivory Coast.

At least 85 people were illegally detained in the same period, Ngefa said at a news conference Thursday.

A government official rejected the report as "incomplete."

"We would like him (Ngefa) to bring the names of the persons killed, as well as the authors of these alleged crimes. Then we could act," said Ahoussou Jeannot, the nation's justice minister.

The justice minister said "no one is above the law" and pledged to conduct an investigation.

The Ivory Coast plunged into months of violence following Gbagbo's refusal to step down when he lost the election last year.

Forces loyal to the current president, Alassane Ouattara, seized him in April, ending the political standoff.

The U.N. report came the same day the government accused 62 soldiers close to the former president of attacking state security, buying illegal arms, kidnapping, rape and murder, a prosecutor said. Police arrested 40 of them.

Earlier this week, Gbagbo's son and 11 members of the ex-president's inner circle were indicted for their alleged roles in the postelection crisis.

The group is being held under a colonial-era law that allows anyone considered a threat to national security to be kept under house arrest indefinitely.