The death toll from clashes in the Ivory Coast is mounting as forces loyal to internationally recognized President Alassane Ouattara surround the compound of embattled leader Laurent Gbagbo. Ouattara has ordered his soldiers to cordon off the residence to prevent Gbagbo’s departure. At the United Nations, Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos said she had seen hundreds of dead bodies in a recent trip to the Ivory Coast.

Valerie Amos: “People are immensely traumatized. They have witnessed terrible violence, and many have been directly targeted. Women told me stories of witnessing their husbands being executed. Hundreds of children have been separated from their parents, and women and girls have allegedly been kidnapped. Two hundred bodies in one site. Other sites where there are clearly bodies, but we don’t know how many.”