ABIDJAN, 25 June 2010 (IRIN) - About one dozen people, including women and children, have been confirmed dead in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, after heavy rain storms this week caused mudslides in some of the most run-down areas of the country's main port.

"A number of people are missing and we have recorded significant damage, including destroyed homes," said Fiacre Kili, director of the Ivorian Office of Civil Protection, on 25 June. Local leaders said thousands of people had been displaced, but no official count has been conducted.

"Families are crowded in places with their belongings ... the authorities have come and met with us, but they have not taken any steps to help us," said Paulin N'Guetta, 32, a blacksmith in the densely populated neighbourhood of Gobelet.

The authorities tried to move people out of flood-prone areas at the onset of the rainy season, but most refused to leave without financial assistance to help them relocate. In 2009 heavy rains killed 21 people during the same period.

In neighbouring Ghana, heavy rains have displaced 12,000 people and killed more than 30, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).