Ivorian government forces vowed to hunt down those responsible for an ambush that killed at least seven United Nations peacekeepers as Liberia sealed its border amid fears that the gunmen had used the country to stage the attack.

A Dutch-based oil trading company has agreed to pay the Ivory Coast government nearly €1.5m to settle a dispute over toxic waste that the company had been accused of illegally dumping in the port city of Abidjan, the Ivory Coast government said.

The UN Security Council yesterday gave wide support to a resolution that would impose sanctions against Ivory Coast if the government and rebels don’t return to a peace process by the beginning of December, diplomats said.

MACHETE-waving mobs looted and burned in Ivory Coast’s largest cities yesterday.

Pro-government mobs laid siege to the main French military base in Ivory Coast’s commercial capital Abidjan today, demanding that peacekeepers withdraw from the country and allow fighting to resume in its civil war.