ABIDJAN/DAKAR (Reuters) – Ivory Coast’s post-poll crisis is degenerating into armed conflict, with gun battles between forces loyal to presidential rivals erupting in the commercial capital Abidjan and the volatile west of the country.

Incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo has defied international pressure to step down after U.N. certified poll results showed he lost an election that was meant to end years of stalemate following a 2002-3 civil war.

ABIDJAN (Reuters) – The United Nations has accused Belarus of breaking an arms embargo against Ivory Coast by delivering attack helicopters to Laurent Gbagbo, the leader who has resisted three months of pressure to quit after a disputed election.

But Gbagbo’s government denied the U.N. report as a “lie” and U.N. diplomats told Reuters on Monday that the allegation had not been confirmed. They said the accusation by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was based on reports he had received from the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Ivory Coast.

ABIDJAN (Reuters) – The United Nations accused Belarus of breaking an arms embargo against Ivory Coast on Monday by delivering attack helicopters to incumbent Laurent Gbagbo in support of his bid to retain power.

The alleged arms shipment comes as a week of gun battles between forces loyal to Gbagbo and his rival Alassane Ouattara, almost universally recognized as winner of a November 28 poll, risk pushing the top cocoa grower back to full-blown civil war.

ABIDJAN (Reuters) – Terrified residents fled sporadic shooting in an Abidjan neighborhood on Thursday and fighting erupted in Ivory Coast’s west in an escalation of a post-poll power struggle that threatens to reignite civil war.

The spread of clashes in the world’s top cocoa grower comes amid faltering diplomatic efforts to resolve a dispute between incumbent president Laurent Gbagbo and rival Alassane Ouattara, internationally recognized as the winner of a November election.

ABIDJAN (Reuters) – Ivorian troops killed at least six protesters calling on Laurent Gbagbo to step down as leader on Monday, witnesses said, as African presidents charged with resolving Ivory Coast’s crisis met the incumbent in Abidjan.

A meeting with Alassane Ouattara, internationally recognised as winner of a disputed Nov. 28 election, which Gbagbo refuses to concede, was delayed until Tuesday, officials said.

ABIDJAN, Feb 21 (Reuters) – Ivorian troops killed at least
six protesters calling on Laurent Gbagbo to step down as leader
on Monday, witnesses said, as African presidents charged with
resolving Ivory Coast’s crisis arrived in Abidjan.

A dispute over the presidential election in November has
paralysed the country and led to the deaths of about 300 people.

ABIDJAN/DAKAR, Feb 18 (Reuters) – Ivory Coast will re-open
branches of two major French banks on Monday after announcing it
was nationalising them to avert economic meltdown, the
government of disputed leader Laurent Gbagbo said on Friday.
[ID:nLDE71H0QY]

Here as some questions and answers about the proposed
nationalisation.

WHO IS TARGETED?

The two main banks targeted in the announcement late on
Thursday were a unit of France’s Societe Generale (SOGN.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and
French BNP Paribas’s (BNPP.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) unit BICC.CI, both of which
suspended operations this week.

ABIDJAN, Feb 18 (Reuters) – Ivory Coast will re-open
branches of two major French banks on Monday after announcing it
was seizing them to avert economic meltdown, the government of
disputed leader Laurent Gbagbo said on Friday.

The banking system ground to a halt this week as part of the
economic fallout from a dispute over a Nov 28 election, with
banks citing liquidity and security problems and shutting their
doors on queues of Ivorians desperate to withdraw cash.

ABIDJAN, Feb 17 (Reuters) – Ivory Coast’s biggest bank, a
unit of Societe Generale (SOGN.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), suspended operations on
Thursday, the latest in an exodus of foreign banks that is
turning a political crisis into financial meltdown.

Shutters were down on branches across Abidjan, the main
city, while agencies still open were swamped with customers
trying to withdraw cash. Separately, cocoa farmers marched on
the Ivorian offices of the European Union, whose sanctions on
regulators and ports have contributed to the shutdown.

ABIDJAN, Feb 17 (Reuters) – Ivory Coast’s biggest bank, a
unit of Societe Generale (SOGN.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), said it was suspending its
activities on Thursday, the latest in an exodus of foreign banks
that is turning political crisis into financial meltdown.

“Owing to the situation and despite all out efforts, we
regret to inform you that SGBCI is obliged to provisionally
suspend its activities from Feb. 17 2011,” a website statement
said, the fifth international bank to pull out this week.