West Africa’s central bank cut funds to Ivory Coast’s Laurent Gbagbo on Thursday, adding to pressure on the defiant leader to step down after a disputed poll world powers and neighbours say he lost.

At least 173 people have been killed following the Nov. 28 election, the U.N. said on Thursday, as its human rights body unanimously condemned the political violence and called for reconciliation to avoid a renewed civil war.

World powers and African states have thrown their support behind Gbagbo’s rival presidential claimant, Alassane Ouattara, who has set up a parallel government based in a lagoon-side Abidjan hotel, heavily guarded by U.N. peacekeepers.

“The council of ministers has taken note of the decisions of the U.N., the African Union, and of (West African regional body) ECOWAS, to recognise Alassane Ouattara as the legitimate elected president of Ivory Coast,” said a statement from the Central Bank of the West African Economic and Monetary Union, read over Guinea Bissau’s Bombolon radio.

The statement, issued after a meeting of ministers in Guinea Bissau, added that only appointed members of the “legitimate government” would be permitted to access funds held in the central bank’s accounts.

The move follows a World Bank decision on Wednesday to freeze some $800 million in committed financing to Ivory Coast, adding to expectations that Gbagbo may soon struggle to pay public wages — including to troops — and make debt repayments.

Ivory Coast’s $2,3 billion bond due 2032 fell nearly a point to a record low on Thursday as investors worried that the country would be unable to meet a $30 million bond payment on Dec. 31.

Gbagbo’s Finance Minister Desire Dalo did not comment when reached by telephone.

Turmoil in the world’s top cocoa-producing country has also boosted cocoa prices to recent four-month highs, disrupting export registrations and raising the possibility that fighting could block transport and shipping.

Human rights violations

“Between 16 and 21 December, human rights officers have substantiated allegations of 173 killings, 90 instances of torture and ill treatment, 471 arrests and detentions and 24 cases of enforced or involuntary disappearances,” Kyung-wha Kang, Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, told a special session of the U.N. rights council.

US ambassador Betty E. King told the council’s meeting in Geneva that yet more may have died.

“We have credible reports that almost 200 people may have already been killed, with dozens more tortured or mistreated, and others may have been snatched from their homes in the middle of the night,” she said.

A statement issued by the U.N. mission in Ivory Coast on Thursday said that masked supporters of Gbagbo armed with rocket launchers have been blocking a road to Anyama, around N’Dotre, which it said is “a village outside Abidjan where allegations point to existence of a mass grave”.

The United States, United Nations, European Union, African Union and ECOWAS have all recognised provisional electoral commission results showing Ouattara as the winner, with the US and EU issuing sanctions on Gbagbo and his inner circle.

But Gbagbo has shown no sign of caving in to the pressure and insists he won the election after the Constitutional Court, which is headed by one of his allies, threw out hundreds of thousands of votes from pro-Ouattara constituencies.

The election in the former regional star economy was meant to reunite the country following a 2002-03 civil war, but has instead aggravated divisions.

A spokesman for Ivory Coast’s army said on Wednesday that government troops were united behind Gbagbo.

“There is no doubt about the cohesion as perfect brothers in arms of the security and defence forces,” army spokesman Babri Gohourou said in an address on state TV.

Military support for Gbagbo is seen as one of the main reasons he is able to defy calls to step down. Earlier the prime minister of Ouattara’s rival government, former rebel Guillaume Soro, said the “only solution” to the crisis was for world leaders to use force to oust Gbagbo if other measures fail.

The standoff turned violent last week after gun battles broke out briefly between government soldiers and rebels who now back Ouattara. Residents of pro-Ouattara neighbourhoods have said masked gunmen are now breaking into homes by night and kidnapping people.

Henri de Raincourt, French Minister in Charge of Cooperation, told Radio France International that any military effort to oust Gbagbo would need to be led by African states.

The US State Department said Washington was discussing moves to strengthen the 10000-strong U.N. peacekeeping force in Ivory Coast with former colonial power France and African states in a move that could add pressure on Gbagbo.