An ally of Ivory Coast's incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo has warned UN peacekeepers they could be treated as rebels if they remain in the country after being told to leave. Mr Gbagbo accuses the UN of siding with his rival Alassane Ouattara and ordered them out of the country.

The UN says Mr Ouattara won last month's poll and has urged all parties to recognise him as president. It has extended the mandate of its 10,000-strong force by six months. Mr Gbagbo says the polls were rigged in rebel-held areas of the north and was declared the winner by the Constitutional Council. But the UN mission in Ivory Coast, which was involved in organising the election, backed the electoral commission in saying Mr Ouattara had won.

At least 50 people have been killed in violence linked to the dispute, the UN says, amid fears of a return to civil war. Mr Gbagbo's Interior Minister, Emile Guirieoulou, said of the UN mission: "If, against our will, they want to keep this force in our country, we won't co-operate with them”.