BEHOLD, THE SYMBOL OF HUMANITY

The U.N. Security Council has extended the mandate of the U.N. peacekeeping force in Ivory Coast for six months, despite demands by the incumbent Ivory Coast president for the pullout of the peacekeepers.

The 15-member Security Council voted unanimously to extend the mandate of the 10,000 member U.N. peacekeeping force in Ivory Coast until June 30, 2011. The incumbent president of Ivory Coast, Laurent Gbagbo, last week ordered U.N. and French peacekeepers to leave the country.

Mr. Gbagbo continues to refuse to accept challenger Alassane Ouattara as Ivory Coast's new president, despite international acceptance of Mr. Ouattara's election in last month's voting.

In its resolution extending the peacekeeping force for six months, the Security Council condemns, in what it calls the strongest possible terms, the attempts to usurp the will of the people and undermine the integrity of the electoral process and any progress in the peace process in Ivory Coast. The council urges all the Ivorian parties to respect the will of the people and the outcome of the election, citing the recognition by the Economic Community of West African States and the African Union of Mr. Ouattara as Ivory Coast's president-elect.

United States Ambassador Susan Rice, the current president of the Security Council, said the council warned all stakeholders they will be held accountable for attacks against civilians and peacekeepers, and will be brought to justice.

"The members of the Security Council urge all Ivorians to exercise maximum restraint, remain calm, resist provocative actions, refrain from violence and work together to restore sustainable peace," she said.

A U.N. spokesman says there have been at least 50 deaths in Ivory Coast, 200 people injured and 470 people arbitrarily arrested and detained since the election.

Supporters of incumbent Ivorian president, Laurent Gbagbo, say they are ready to fight to the death to keep him in power, while the United Nations points to growing evidence of "massive violations of human rights" since last month's disputed presidential election.

In Ivory Coast, incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo refuses to cede power to Alassane Ouattara, who was recognized by the United Nations and much of the international community as the winner of the November 28 presidential run-off.

The United Nations is reporting a wave of killings and abductions since the poll. U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay issued a statement Sunday saying more than 50 people have been killed and more than 200 injured in violence since Thursday.

Gbagbo's supporters, led by militant youth leader Charles Ble Goude, accuse foreigners of threatening Ivory Coast's sovereignty and have vowed to fight to the death to keep Mr. Gbagbo in power.

Africa security analyst J. Peter Pham of the New York-based National Committee on American Foreign Policy says the situation is entering a critical phase.

On a strategic level, it certainly does not help Gbagbo to create the chaos which might justify an armed international intervention," said Pham. "In fact, his endgame might be to maintain the political pressure but actually stop short of the threshold that would provoke an intervention. Now, whether he can maintain that balance, I think, is the key question for the next several days and weeks."

Regional efforts at mediation and threats of international sanctions have done little to ease the political gridlock that looks increasingly close to plunging the country back into a civil war that in 2002-2003 split the country between a rebel-held north and a government-held south.

International Crisis Group's Ivory Coast analyst, Rinaldo Depagne, says there is no negotiation on the horizon and the situation could disintegrate into an intense conflict in the days, weeks or months ahead. He says there is not much to negotiate, other than the departure of Gbabgo, who has carried out what Depagne calls an institutional coup d'etat.

Depagne said failed official disarmament and subsequent unofficial rearmament on both sides since the 2007 Ouagadougou peace accords makes current tensions all the more dangerous.

A spokesman for U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has said that the U.N. mission in Ivory Coast will fulfill its mandate and warned that "any attack on U.N. forces will be an attack on the international community and those responsible for these actions will be held accountable."

The U.N. Security Council is set to meet to discuss the mandate of the U.N. mission in Ivory Coast, which is to expire December 31st and currently charges the peacekeeping mission to protect civilians. Ouattara's camp has called for the U.N. mission's mandate to be renewed and strengthened.

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