Abidjan - Six people were killed and 22 injured during a riot at a prison in Ivory Coast's main city Abidjan on Tuesday, a United Nations official in the West African country said.

"A United Nations human rights team is looking into what happened," the official said, but declined to be named.

Ivory Coast's chief prison administrator said the violence had broken out early on Tuesday at the main MACA prison because inmates were frustrated that the water supply to the overcrowded building had been cut off for several days.

He said security forces had shot dead two prisoners as they tried to bring the inmates under control.

'Two were killed by bullets and it seems two were killed with machetes or knives'

"There are four confirmed dead and eight were injured. Some prisoners escaped but we don't know how many yet," prison administrator Francois Guei said.

"Two were killed by bullets and it seems two were killed with machetes or knives," he said.

Tensions are high in Ivory Coast, which has been split in two since war broke out in 2002. The rebels holding the north of the country withdrew from a long-delayed disarmament process last week and have warned that the war could start again soon.

The MACA prison, which was built more than two decades ago in Abidjan's Yopougon suburb, holds 5 400 inmates but has an official capacity of just 1 500, Guei said.

Yopougon residents said discontent had been brewing in the prison since the water supply to the district was cut off because of a fault four days ago.

"There's usually family visiting on Tuesdays but it was cancelled because the prisoners were angry," said one man who lives next to the prison and works with some of its staff.

"Some managed to escape by climbing over the wall but the security forces circled the prison and fired shots in the air to stop them getting away," he said.

Published on the Web by IOL on 2004-11-03 06:06:02