ABIDJAN, Jan 18 (AFP) - A UN envoy on a visit to west Africa said Saturday she was shocked by the living conditions facing people who were forced from their slum homes when war broke out in Ivory Coast four months ago. "I had heard about the situation these people faced but to see how they really live was schocking," Carolyn McAskie told AFP after meeting with the slum dwellers, dubbed "evictees," in the Allakro neighbourhood of Abidjan. McAskie, who arrived in Ivory Coast on Thursday for the start of a three-week visit to the region, visited a group of slum dwellers, most of them west African migrant workers, in the economic hub of the west African country. The people's homes had been razed on the orders of President Laurent Gbagbo days after rebels rose up against his government on September 19, sparking the conflict that has ground on for four months. The government announced on October 4 that it would destroy all shantytowns in the city within a month, claiming that foreign supporters of the rebels were living there. Allakro was completely destroyed in the post-rebellion raids. McAskie urged Gbagbo's government "to treat the people who were chased from their homes in a humane manner and allow them to keep their personal belongings." She said the UN would give "humanitarian aid to displaced persons who are in a difficult situation." The aid agency "Save the Children" has said that 16 out of Abidjan's 30 neighbourhoods have been razed since October. Some 25,000 people have been affected by the raids, and 3,000 left homeless. During her three-week visit to the region McAskie will meet with aid workers, political leaders, civilians and displaced people around Ivory Coast,including in regions to the north and west under rebel control. "I came to be able to tell the story of people who are suffering" to the international community and "more specifically to the secretary general and the United Nations Security Council," she said upon arrival Thursday. Starting next week, McAskie will visit Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea and Liberia, to assess the impact of the four-month war. The head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Besida Tonwe, has estimated that between 600,000 and a million people have been displaced by the Ivory Coast war. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan named McAskie, a Canadian who is UN deputy emergency relief coordinator, as special envoy to Ivory Coast last month because of the mounting humanitarian crisis. Her visit coincides with peace talks being held near the French capital, Paris, where Ivorian rebels, government and political groups have since Wednesday been trying to hammer out their differences. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~