This follows repeated deadly raids by suspected ex-President Laurent Gbagbo loyalists.

Following recurrent attacks from Liberia into Côte d’Ivoire’s western frontier, the army has announced the deployment of 600 soldiers to help secure the area, Radio France Internationale, RFI announced yesterday, February 25, 2014. A total of 13 people were killed in such attacks last month.

The Chief of Army Staff, Gen. Soumaïla Bakayoko, who is touring the Duékoué region, said the troops will be deployed between Divo and Danané to oversee an area of 400 km. The army is being backed in the operation by UN troops. The region, which is prone to clashes over land rights, saw the displacement of 5,000 people in March 2013 after skirmishes.

Meanwhile, six people died in another cross-border raid on Monday, February 24, 2014 in Grabo, including five soldiers and an assailant. Confirming the incident, the Minister Delegate for Defence, Paul Koffi Koffi, said three other assailants were taken prisoner. The attack follows the recent arrest in Liberia of Ivoirians suspected of planning raids against their country. This week’s attack was the first on the border in a year.

According to the UN High Commission for Refugees, UNHCR, 20,945 Côte d'Ivoire refugees have returned home from Liberia and Guinea since October 2011. Earlier this year, over 2,595 people were repatriated. Some 20,000 others are expected to go home by the end of this year. A total of 50,000 Ivoirian nationals still live in Liberia, out of the 200,000 who fled to neighbouring countries at the height of the 2010-2011 post-election violence. The conflict left at least 3,000 people dead.

Western Côte d'Ivoire, which borders Liberia, paid the heaviest price during the post-election violence. In 2012, several attacks by unknown armed groups in the area left dozens of people dead, including UN peacekeepers. In a January 2014 report, the International Crisis Group, ICG, warned against reigniting the country’s old crisis. It recommended among others that initial steps by the government to reduce political tensions and promote national reconciliation must be extended to the Great West.

The west – particularly the Cavally and Guémon regions – were the most affected in the September 2002 war, its aftermath and the 2011 post-election violence. ICG also proposed that in order to resolve land disputes - a powerful trigger for conflict - the government should amend a 1998 Land Code so as to streamline dispute resolution procedures and reduce the cost of associated administrative requirements.