Global Policy Forum

At least 120 demonstrators were killed by the security forces in Ivory Coast in March, according to a UN report. Several hundred others were said to be injured when the security forces opened fire on the demonstrators - 20 are still believed to be missing. "What happened on 25 and 26 March was the committing of massive human rights violations," the report said.

At the time, the government said that only 37 people had died in clashes in commercial capital, Abidjan. But opposition leaders say more than 300 people were killed during the demonstrations that were dispersed by government forces. The clashes put further strain on the peace deal between northern-based rebels and the government in the south.

The opposition had accused President Laurent Gbagbo of breaching the terms of a peace deal designed to end the civil war. It called the March protest in spite of a presidential ban on public protests. Mr Gbagbo, in turn, accused them of planning a rebellion under the guise of peaceful demonstrations.

'Targeted'

The report - by the UN Human Rights Commission - said the security forces targeted people according to their names and ethnic groups. Many of the victims were killed "not in the street" during the demonstration, "but in the dwellings of would-be demonstrators or even innocent civilians targeted by the security forces simply because of their name, origin or community group," said the UN report.

March's violence was the worst to hit Abidjan since September 2002, when a coup attempt triggered civil war. The West African state, once a symbol of stability in a very unstable region, has become increasingly vulnerable to political violence and coups. The country has been divided in two since the latest military rebellion.