Army to be deployed in northern Ivory Coast: minister

   ABIDJAN, Dec 8 (AFP) - Extra security forces including the army are to
deploy in the north of Ivory Coast to deal with increasing political
violence
ahead of a general election, Interior Minister Emile Boga Doudou said
Friday.
   "We are going to secure all areas concerned and send reinforcements
including the army," the minister told AFP.
   The announcement came after local authorities said four gendarmes and
three
policemen were shot and wounded overnight Thursday in the far northern town
of
Tengrela in riots.
   The paramilitary gendarmerie post and the prefecture, or administrative
headquarters, at Tengrela, on the border with Mali, were completely
destroyed
by fire, district administrator Rene Edmond Agaud told AFP.
   A policeman's wife was raped and his house burned down, said the
administrator.
   The interior minister again accused the opposition Rally of Republicans
(RDR) led by Alassane Ouattara, who has been barred from standing in
Sunday's
election, of wanting to "take power by force".
   Boga Doudou added that the administrator of Seguela, 420 kilometres (262
miles) north west of Abidjan had been given an ultimatum to to leave the
town
before midday Saturday.
   "Obviously he will not do so," said the minister.
   Tens of thousands of supporters of Ouattara, a northern Muslim,
demonstrated in Abidjan on Monday and Tuesday against a Supreme Court ruling
barring him from the poll.
   The protests led to a violent crackdown by the security forces in which
more than two dozen people have been killed and many injured.
   so-il/crl/nb
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