No War, But No Security

10 June 2011

“Between May 13 and 25, Human Rights Watch interviewed 132 victims and witnesses to violence by both sides during the battle for Abidjan and in the weeks after Gbagbo’s arrest. Killings, torture, and inhumane treatment by Ouattara’s armed forces continued while a Human Rights Watch researcher was in Abidjan, with clear ethnic targeting during widespread acts of reprisal and intimidation.” – Human Rights Watch

In his inaugural speech on May 21, Côte d’Ivoire President Alassane Outtara called for Ivorians to come together and unite. The text and tone of his speech was conciliatory, observers agreed, and earlier in May he called for the International Criminal Court to investigate human rights abuses on all sides, including those by his own troops.

But if his words are to have credibility, observers also agree, his administration must take effective action to halt ethnically-based reprisals that are ongoing. Recent reports by Amnesty International and by Human Rights Watch provide ample evidence not only of killings and other abuses against civilians by both sides during the months of post-election conflict, but also that such action are still continuing. Those international forces that supported the legitimacy of Outtara’s election and aided his victory in the post-election conflict have the obligation to demand that his government take responsibility for creating a climate in which it may be possible for Ivorians to respond to his call to come together.

This AfricaFocus Bulletin contains a summary article and excerpts from the latest Human Rights Watch report, published on June 3. – Editor’s Note

Other relevant recent reports and analyses include:

Amnesty International, May 25,2011 “Both Sides Responsible for War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity” http://allafrica.com/stories/201105250108.html

International Freedom of Expression Exchange Clearing House, 1 June 2011 “Reprisals Against Pro-Gbagbo Journalists Continue; Opposition Press Re-Emerges” http://allafrica.com/stories/201106020540.html

Véronique Tadjo, “Of Saviours, God and Domination”, May 20, 2011 http://allafrica.com/stories/201105200001.html

Colette Braeckmann, “Ouattara: le discours et la realité” May 22, 2011 http://blog.lesoir.be/colette-braeckman / direct URL: http://tinyurl.com/6b2vv85

For previous AfricaFocus Bulletins on Côte d’Ivoire, see http://www.africafocus.org/country/cotedivoire.php

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Updates for “Aids Research “Game Changer”, May 16, 2011 http://www.africafocus.org/docs11/hiv1105.php

See my Foreign Policy in Focus Commentary for June 7, 2011 at http://www.fpif.org/articles/game_changers_in_global_aids_fight

Healthgap announcement of victory in getting pledge from world leaders for 16 million on AIDS treatment by 2015 http://www.healthgap.org/worldmakesbold.htm

and news coverage of the UN High-Level Meeting on AIDS concluding today at http://www.un.org/en/ga/aidsmeeting2011/ and http://tinyurl.com/6d7o4hn

[For more frequent updates from AfricaFocus on articles of interest, visit the AfricaFocus Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/AfricaFocus/101867576407]

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Côte d’Ivoire: Hiding Out in Abidjan

UN Integrated Regional Information Networks

3 June 2011

[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

http://www.irinnews.org / http://allafrica.com/stories/201106060674.html

Dakar – People from ethnic groups seen as pro-Laurent Gbagbo are hiding out, using aliases in public and fearing for their lives, amid attacks by government forces in the main city Abidjan, residents told IRIN.

“It is total and constant insecurity for people from ethnic groups seen as pro-Gbagbo,” said a young man calling himself Toupé.

People from allegedly targeted ethnic groups have started using nicknames, “so when we address one another in public we cannot be identified”, explained another youth known as Pascal Soro.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) in a 2 June report says forces of President Alassane Ouattara’s government have killed scores of real or perceived backers of Gbagbo since the former president was arrested in April.

“The actions President Ouattara takes or fails to take in the coming weeks will define how seriously he takes this cycle of violence,” Corinne Dufka, HRW senior West Africa researcher, told IRIN.

Residents of the Yopougon District, from where the government army Forces R&ecute;publicaines de Côte d’Ivoire (FRCI) recently chased Gbagbo militia, told IRIN people from many ethnic groups – particularly Bét´ and Guéré – are not safe.

“We thought when FRCI came and forced the militia out, there would be security – it has been exactly the opposite,” Toupé said.

Attacks by FRCI are not linked to whether or not one was a Gbagbo militant, residents told IRIN. “It’s enough that you have a name from one of these ethnic groups of the west,” Toupé, from Yopougon, told IRIN from a neighbourhood where he has been hiding since mid-April. “You’re lucky if all you get is a broken arm or leg.”

He lived in the largely pro-Gbagbo Sicogi area of Yopougon. “For them [FRCI], if you’re a youth and you’re from there, you’re with the militia – that’s it, you’re through.”

Toupé said he has no news of his wife and one-year-old child, from whom he was separated when they all fled violence.

Reconciliation impossible?

Both Toupé and Pascal Soro said people back in their neighbourhoods, including friends from the Malink´ ethnic group, tell them it is not safe to come back. “For now we’ve got to stay where no one knows us,” Pascal Soro told IRIN.

“We are truly imprisoned in our own country,” said Toupé. “We cannot even speak out. State TV gives the impression all is OK and on track towards reconciliation. Nothing could be further from the truth, but there is no place for opposition on the state airwaves.”

Yopougon residents say reconciliation in the country is impossible in the current environment. “If the new authorities want peace and reconciliation they must put an end to indiscriminate arrests and killings carried out each night on the pretext that the targets are opposition militia,” student Valentin Konet told IRIN.

Dufka said FRCI members suspected of abuses must be held accountable. “Initially the hope was that these were isolated acts by undisciplined elements and resulting from the loose and informal way FRCI was thrown together. The fact that high-level officers, who long held prominent posts in the [former antiGbagbo] Forces Nouvelles, are credibly implicated, raises considerable concern.”

HRW is calling on the government to put on administrative leave any FRCI members suspected of violations pending investigation.

FRCI and Ouattara communications officers said a new government – announced on 1 June – was just getting installed and officials were not yet ready to comment on the report.

Côte d’Ivoire: Gbagbo Supporters Tortured, Killed in Abidjan

Rampant Reprisals by Pro-Ouattara Forces Mar New Presidency

Human Rights Watch

June 2, 2011

[Excerpts only. For full report see http://www.hrw.org/africa/cote-divoire / direct URL: http://tinyurl.com/3as2fkx]

(Dakar) – Armed forces loyal to President Alassane Ouattara have killed at least 149 real or perceived supporters of the former President Laurent Gbagbo since taking control of the commercial capital in mid-April, 2011, Human Rights Watch said today. ProGbagbo militiamen killed at least 220 men in the days immediately preceding and following Gbagbo’s arrest on April 11, when the nearly four-month conflict drew to a close.

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