Ivorian police officers use tear gas to disperse a group of journalists as they block the street next to Ivory Coast’s presidential candidate Henri Konan Bedie’s house in Abidjan on November 3, 2020, after the announcement of the country’s October 31 presidential election result. (Photo by AFP)

Two supporters of an Ivory Coast minister have been killed in a clash near his home in the central town of Toumodi after President Alassane Ouattara was re-elected to a disputed third term, a ruling party official said.

Tensions are high in Ivory Coast after Ouattara was declared victor on Tuesday, with more than 40 people killed in clashes since August when he first announced he would run for a third term.

Two young people from the minister’s entourage who wanted to help the minister’s brother were shot dead Tuesday night, Ouattara’s RHDP party spokesman Mamadou Toure said on Wednesday.

The clash happened near the home of the minister of equipment, Amede Koffi Kouakou, in Toumodi, where four people were killed at the weekend when houses were set ablaze during clashes there.

The party official also said the convoy of Communication Minister Sidi Tiemoko Toure had come under fire in the center of the country, but there were no casualties.

Security forces have surrounded the homes of Ouattara’s chief rivals after they rejected the election and vowed to set up a rival transitional government.

They say his third term breaches the country’s two-term presidential limit, but the Ivorian leader contends that a 2016 reform allowed him to run again by resetting term limits back to zero.

The crisis has stoked fears the West African state could slide into the kind of violence that killed 3,000 people a decade ago when then president Laurent Gbagbo refused to accept defeat by Ouattara.

Police have blocked access to the residences of Ouattara’s main adversaries, Henri Konan Bedie and Pascal Affi N’Guessan, after officials accused the opposition of plotting an act of sedition.

(Source: AFP)