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The Chief Officers' Network - your business advantage / Management / Risk Professional / The Risk Professional: Côte d’Ivoire and helicopters - the story that won't die

But the helicopters are for the use of the UN's own peacekeepers, the UN says, "to reinforce the world body’s mission as it confronts increasing violence sparked by former president Laurent Gbagbo’s refusal to step down despite his defeat at the polls."

The reinforcements will improve the operational capacity of the UN Operation in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI), in particular in protecting civilians, mission spokesman Hamadoun Touré told a news briefing in Abidjan, the commercial capital, where Gbagbo loyalists have attacked civilians supporting opposition leader Alassane Ouattara, the UN-certified and internationally recognised victor of November’s run-off election, who is himself under siege in the city’s Golf Hotel.

The 9,000-strong UNOCI, which has been blamed for the earlier error in reporting, has been supporting the stabilisation and reunification efforts over the past seven years and was asked by all sides to certify the elections, which were meant to be the culminating point. But after Gbagbo’s rejection of the results and his demand that the mission withdraw, the Council authorised the immediate deployment of 2,000 more troops and three armed helicopters.

UN troops have come under increasing attacks from Gbagbo's supporters.

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