UN chief accuses Belarus of violating Ivory Coast arms embargo

The United Nations on Monday accused Belarus of defying an arms embargo against Ivory Coast by delivering three attack helicopters to the disputed president of the west African nation.

A spokesman for U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon said the helicopters and other related materiel "are reportedly being delivered at Yamoussoukro," the nation's capital, for Laurent Gbagbo's forces.

"The first delivery arrived reportedly on a flight which landed this (Sunday) evening and additional flights are scheduled for" Monday," the spokesman said in a statement.

Gbagbo, the nation's incumbent leader, is clinging to the presidency despite an international call for him to step down after an electoral commission declared challenger Alassane Ouattara the winner of a November election.

Deliveries violate an arms embargo that has been in place since 2004, the spokesman said.