ABIDJAN (Reuters) – The U.N. peacekeeping mission to Ivory Coast said Laurent Gbagbo’s forces were readying an attack helicopter and multiple rocket launchers Tuesday and condemned the growing use of heavy weapons against civilians.

Its statement came as Gbagbo’s rival Alassane Ouattara scolded the mission for not doing enough to protect civilians, saying Gbagbo’s security forces had killed 832 people since a contested November election in the world’s top cocoa grower.

ABIDJAN (Reuters) – Thousands of young supporters of Ivory Coast’s Laurent Gbagbo answered a call to join the army on Monday, while Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf warned the crisis risked destabilising the West African region.

Around 400 Ivorians have died and hundreds of thousands have fled their homes since a dispute over a November 28 election that has since escalated into open conflict, with daily gun battles and heavy weapons fire in Abidjan.

ABIDJAN (Reuters) – Skinny, wearing scruffy trousers and baring a chest glistening with sweat, 24-year-old Enselme Behilbro speaks for many of Ivory Coast’s “Young Patriots” when he says he is willing to die for Laurent Gbagbo.

“I am proud to liberate my country. I am ready to die,” he told Reuters at a palm-lined stadium flanked by French colonial buildings in the army headquarters, where thousands of youths crowded in after a weekend call by the incumbent’s youth leader, Charles Ble Goude, to enlist.

ABIDJAN (Reuters) – Thousands of young supporters of Ivory Coast’s Laurent Gbagbo answered a call to join the army Monday, adding fuel to a violent power struggle that risks sending the country back into all out civil war.

Around 400 Ivorians have died and hundreds of thousands have fled their homes since a dispute over a November 28 vote that has since escalated into open conflict, with daily gun battles and heavy weapons fire in Abidjan.

ABIDJAN (Reuters) – Laurent Gbagbo has called on Ivory Coast’s civilians to help his forces “neutralise” suspected rebels, raising fears of a return to all out civil war as fighting continued in Abidjan on Friday.

Meanwhile, the United Nations said Thursday’s bombing of civilians which it blamed on pro-Gbagbo forces may constitute a crime against humanity. Gbagbo’s camp has denied responsibility.

ABIDJAN (Reuters) – Laurent Gbagbo’s camp has called on Ivory Coast’s civilians to help his forces “neutralize” suspected rebels, raising fears of a return to all out civil war as fighting continued in Abidjan on Friday.

The world’s top cocoa grower has been gripped by an increasingly violent power struggle since a disputed November 28 election, which Alassane Ouattara won, according to internationally-recognized results, but Gbagbo refuses to concede.

ABIDJAN (Reuters) – At least 25 people were killed in Ivory Coast on Thursday when forces loyal to incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo fired a series of shells into a neighborhood that supports his rival, the U.N. mission said.

One shell exploded in a busy market in an area of Abobo, a part of the main commercial city Abidjan that supports presidential claimant Alassane Ouattara, two residents said.

ABIDJAN (Reuters) – At least 10 people were killed in Ivory Coast on Thursday when a shell exploded in a busy market in an area of the main city Abidjan that supports presidential claimant Alassane Ouattara, two residents said.

Gunfire and explosions were heard in various parts of Abidjan on Thursday and overnight, and the United Nations had earlier confirmed the death toll from Ivory Coast’s violence since a disputed mid-December election was now 410.

and Loucoumane Coulibaly ABIDJAN (Reuters) – At least 10 people were killed in Ivory Coast Thursday when a shell exploded in a busy market in an area of the main city Abidjan that supports presidential claimant Alassane Ouattara, two residents said.

Gunfire and explosions were heard in various parts of Abidjan Thursday and overnight, and the United Nations said the confirmed death toll from Ivory Coast’s violence since a disputed mid-December election was now 410.

ABIDJAN (Reuters) – Fighting flared in a strategic town in western Ivory Coast on Wednesday, killing at least two people, with five more killed in Abidjan, as security forces cracked down on pro-Ouattara neighborhoods.

Supporters of presidential claimant Alassane Ouattara denied involvement in the fighting in the west.