About 400 civilian United Nations employees left Ivory Coast amid mounting fears of violence in the event of sanctions by the UN Security Council, mission head Pierre Schori was quoted by Deutsche Presse Agentur (dpa) as saying Friday. The departure, reported by Schori to the BBC, comes a week after violent protests against the presence of United Nations peacekeeping troops stationed in the west of the country. The unrest was sparked by a recommendation, issued by a working group representing the international community, that the pro-Gbagbo parliament, the mandate of which ran out in December, be dissolved. National media had described the recommendation as "external interference." The disbanding of parliament is part of an international "road map" for the country aimed at ending a conflict that began with a coup bid in September 2002 and has since seen Ivory Coast split into a rebel-held north and government-controlled south. The ruling party has threatened to withdraw from parliament and from UN-backed peace talks and demanded the withdrawal of all foreign troops. --More 19 08 Local Time 16 08 GMT
