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UN report: Gbagbo allies reached out to Islamists
ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast — A new report from U.N. experts accuses exiled allies of Ivory Coast's former president of trying to recruit Islamist rebels who took control of the northern half of neighboring Mali in a campaign to destabilize the volatile West African region, a U.N. diplomat and a Western official familiar with the document said Monday.
The experts also accuse supporters of ex-President Laurent Gbagbo of trying to recruit Mali's military junta, which controls the other half of the country, to the destabilization campaign – and of trying to seize power from Ivory Coast's current President Alassane Ouattara, the two officials said.