World Six killed in Ivory Coast town ahead of presidential election

ABIDJAN (Reuters) - At least six people have been killed in a port town in southern Ivory Coast this week, the mayor said on Thursday, as supporters and opponents of President Alassane Ouattara trade blame for rising violence ahead of the Oct. 31 election.

© Reuters/LUC GNAGO FILE PHOTO: Riot police vehicles patrol a street after a clash with protesters in Abidjan

© Reuters/LUC GNAGO FILE PHOTO: A campaign billboard of Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara is seen behind a burned bus in Abidjan

The authorities decreed a curfew on Wednesday night in response to the killings in Dabou, which Mayor Jean-Claude Niangne said were carried out by men armed with assault rifles and machetes.

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Ivory Coast 's main presidential election challenger, Henri Konan Bédié, called for a campaign of civil disobedience to stop the president from seeking a Ivory Coast 's former President Laurent Gbagbo has been barred from running for the presidency in upcoming elections after a court upheld the

FILE PHOTO: Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara officially nominated to stand for third term ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Local offices of Ivory Coast 's ruling party were ransacked and the house of an 31 vote and prevent it from going ahead . More than a dozen people have been killed since August in

Violence has broken out sporadically since August, when Ouattara announced his candidacy for a third term, a move his opponents say violates the constitution.

In all, more than 20 people have died in protests and clashes between rival supporters.

The events have stoked fears about a bigger slide into violence. A disputed election a decade ago led to a civil war that killed 3,000 people.

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Ahead of Ivory Coast ’s critical 2020 presidential elections , civil society groups are being prevented from protesting for changes they believe would Shadow of 2010-2011 post- electoral violence. This collective of civil society groups is not the only one being prevented from lawful protest in Ivory Coast

DAKAR, Senegal — As rebels swept across Ivory Coast in a rapid advance last week to oust the nation’s strongman, Laurent Gbagbo, hundreds of people were killed in a single town , the United Nations and aid groups said Saturday, in the worst episode of violence during the four-month political

Niangne, a member of Ouattara's ruling party, said young men affiliated with the president's opponents took control of parts of Dabou earlier in the week, killing six people and wounding 40, before being pushed out on Wednesday by the police.

He said weapons belonging to a national lawmaker and former mayor of the town, who is an ally of exiled opposition leader Guillaume Soro, were used by the assailants.

The lawmaker, Ben Souk Sess, who is in exile in Mali, denied this and blamed the violence on youth gangs working for Niangne.

Ouattara's two main challengers in the election, former President Henri Konan Bedie and Pascal Affi N'Guessan, called on their supporters last week to boycott the electoral process and prevent it from going ahead.

They accuse the ruling party of manipulating the electoral process to ensure Ouattara's victory. Ouattara denies this and says he has the right to stand for re-election under a new constitution approved in 2016.

(Reporting by Ange Aboa; Writing by Aaron Ross; Editing by Hugh Lawson)