Ivory Coast - U.N. Official Exonerates Government in Security Force Killings - NYTimes.com Ivory Coast security forces that have been accused of killings, arbitrary arrests and other human rights violations are acting alone and not under government orders, a United Nations official said Wednesday, as the West African nation struggles to impose order after months of postelection violence and chaos. Doudou Diene, the United Nations" independent expert on human rights in Ivory Coast, said in a report Wednesday that most of the violations in the country result "less from the state's complicity than from its failure to prevent them, because of the difficulty of reforming the security sector." An Ivorian official said this month that the government was aware of lawlessness in the country and was attempting to curb it, but that it was "difficult" because of the number of illegal weapons in circulation. Ivory Coast was plunged into chaos after the nation's former strongman, Laurent Gbagbo, refused to step down when he lost a 2010 election to Alassane Ouattara, who is now president. Ivory Coast's new military, the Republican Forces of Ivory Coast, is composed mostly of rebel soldiers who helped bring Mr. Ouattara to power.