A report released by a United Nations commission this week said it has identified thousands of ammunition rounds produced in Sudan that were used by forces loyal to former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo.
About 3,000 people were killed and more than a million displaced in a four-month civil war in Ivory Coast in 2011 after Gbagbo refused to cede power to Alassane Ouattara in the 2010 elections.
The UN Group of Experts on Ivory Coast listed several instances where traces of Sudan-produced ammunition where found.
“According to information provided by UNOCI [United Nations Operation in Côte d’Ivoire], several tens of thousands of rounds of 7.62 x 39 mm ammunition for assault rifles, with production marks for 2010 and 2011, have been identified.
The ammunition and its packaging and markings are consistent with production in the Sudan” the report said.
“This ammunition has been frequently identified in military camps in western Côte d’Ivoire and in weapons collection events relating to the continuing process of disarmament of ex-combatants.
On 6 August 2012, UNOCI identified individual rounds of the above-mentioned ammunition at the site of a lethal attack on the Akouedo military camp in Abidjan”.
The raid, which killed at least six soldiers, was the most high-profile in a series of attacks on security installations last year allegedly orchestrated by Gbagbo loyalists based in neighboring Liberia and Ghana.
The panel said that investigations conducted by UNOCI reveal that the ammunition was “probably” destined for pro-Gbagbo forces and trafficked into the country before his capture in April 2011 following French and U.N. intervention in support of fighters backing Ouattara.
Gbagbo was transferred to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague in November 2011 on crimes against humanity charges, becoming the first former head of state to be taken into the court’s custody.
The report mentions a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in Khartoum between Sudan’s ruling National Congress Party (NCP) and Gbagbo’s Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) in 2010.
“During the above-mentioned mission, a visit to Sudanese armaments factories took place. The Group cannot rule out the possibility that the visit to the Sudan was closely related to the subsequent discovery in Côte d’Ivoire of Sudanese ammunition manufactured in 2010 and 2011. The Group intends to continue its investigations into this particular case”.
The MoU attached to the report speaks of discussing ” Mutual assistance in case of external foreign interference”; “Security of persons and prevention of violence”; “Security data exchange program”.
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