UNITED NATIONS peacekeepers have surrounded the “last defenders” of Ivory Coast leader Laurent Gbagbo, after a week of heavy fighting to unseat him.

The United Nations said it has received hundreds of reports of people being abducted from their homes at night by armed assailants in military uniform and that there is growing evidence of “massive violations of human rights” since Ivory Coast’s disputed election.

THE United Nations peacekeeping force in Ivory Coast risked provoking a showdown with isolated leader Laurent Gbagbo’s hardline supporters yesterday, refusing his demand that it pack its bags and go.

The man who refuses to step down from the presidency ordered thousands of UN peacekeepers to leave Ivory Coast immediately today.