US blasts Ivory Coast

The United States has made an outspoken attack on the government of Ivory Coast, accusing it of persistent human rights abuses.

The US ambassador to Ivory Coast, George Mu, accused the security forces of arresting citizens arbitrarily, torturing detainees and acting with impunity.

He also repeated Washington's view that the election which brought Laurent Gbagbo to power last year was flawed because several presidential candidates were prevented from taking part.

The BBC West Africa correspondent says Mr Mu's comments are some of the frankest ever made publicly against the Ivorian government. Mr Mu was speaking at a press conference in the Ivorian capital, Abidjan, to present the annual State Department report on human rights abuses worldwide.

In the report, Washington ranks Iraq and North Korea as among the worst violators of human rights.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service