Clashes continue in parts of Cote d'Ivoire though overall security situation improving: UN spokesman

Although overall security situation is improving in Cote d'Ivoire, clashes continue in parts of the West African country, where more than 1,000 civilians were killed since the November 2010 presidential polls, a UN spokesman said here Tuesday.

"The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs ( OCHA) says that while the general security situation continues to improve in most of Cote d'Ivoire, clashes continue to be reported in some neighborhoods of Abidjan and in the western part of the country," Martin Nesirky told a daily news briefing.

"Tensions also persist in the southwest, where weeks of fighting have uprooted people and prevented aid agencies from delivering life-saving assistance, according to the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF)," Nesirky said.

"The volatile security situation has already stopped an immunization campaign to halt the spread of a form of polio which has not been reported in the country in more than a decade," he said.

Alassane Ouattara has been inaugurated as president of Cote d' Ivoire after months of violence and political turmoil in the country. Ouattara won the presidential elections but was prevented from taking office after strongman Laurent Gbagbo refused to surrender power. Gbagbo was arrested on April 11.

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