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Amnesty International Report 2003 - Côte d'Ivoire

Covering events from January - December 2002

REPUBLIC OF CÔTE D'IVOIRE
President: Laurent Gbagbo
Head of government: Pascal Affi N'Guessan
Death penalty: abolitionist for all crimes
International Criminal Court: signed

The country suffered its most serious political crisis since independence after an uprising in September by an armed group which effectively divided the country in two. Despite a cease-fire agreement in October, hostilities continued at the end of 2002. French troops intervened to evacuate foreigners and to monitor the cease-fire. In November, two new armed groups rose up in the western part of the country near the border with Liberia. Serious human rights abuses were committed by both the government and the armed groups. In Abidjan, government forces committed extrajudicial executions and arbitrary arrests. They destroyed several deprived neighbourhoods where poor people, including many foreign nationals, were living, leaving thousands of people homeless. Armed opposition groups were responsible for killing unarmed members of the security forces and people suspected of supporting the government. They were also responsible for recruiting child soldiers.

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Background

The September crisis came after two years of turmoil, following a military coup in December 1999. The two-year period was marked by major human rights violations in a climate of xenophobia encouraged by political leaders. The leader of the largest opposition party, the Rassemblement des Républicains (RDR), Rally of Republicans, Alassane Ouattara, had been prohibited by the Constitutional Court from standing in presidential and parliamentary elections in 2000 on the grounds that he was a foreigner of Burkinabè extraction. However, a period of relative peace preceded the uprising. A Forum of National Reconciliation met in late 2001 and the issue of Alassane Ouattara's nationality was apparently settled. In July 2002, a court granted Alassane Ouattara a certificate of nationality and in August the RDR joined the government. All political parties and President Laurent Gbagbo made efforts to end the political stalemate and to reassure the international and regional community.

After the September uprising, peace talks under the auspices of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) began in Lomé, Togo, but no agreement was reached. In December, the cease-fire was broken several times by the government and by the armed political groups: the Mouvement patriotique de Côte d'Ivoire (MPCI), Patriotic Movement of Côte d'Ivoire; the Mouvement populaire ivoirien du grand ouest (MPIGO), Ivorian Popular Movement of the Far West; and the Mouvement pour la justice et la paix (MJP), Movement for Justice and Peace.

By the end of 2002, some 2,500 French troops were present in Côte d'Ivoire to monitor the cease-fire. In late December, there were several armed clashes between French troops and armed opponents in the west of the country.

Extrajudicial executions

After the uprising, security forces arrested a large number of unarmed people suspected of supporting the rebellion, including many foreigners or Ivorians with Muslim names. Some of them were then killed. In Abidjan, where a curfew was imposed, several people were seized at work or at home by men in uniform and executed. These armed men presented themselves as members of the security forces and apparently acted with the consent of the authorities, who took no steps to arrest them or to prevent further violations.

• On 19 September, the first day of the uprising, General Gueï, a former head of state, was shot dead by security forces while seeking refuge in Abidjan Cathedral. His wife, Rose Gueï, as well as other people close to General Gueï such as his aide-de-camp, Captain Fabien Coulibaly, went into hiding, but were found and killed by members of the security forces.
• On 6 November, Dr Benoît Dacoury-Tabley was arrested by two men in uniform who said they were members of the security forces. Relatives of the doctor were told that he was detained at the Gendarmerie Brigade of Abobo in Abidjan, but they did not find him there. His body was found two days later on a road leading to the Maison d'Arrêt et de Correction d'Abidjan, the main civil prison.

Massacre in Daloa

In October, when government forces retook the town of Daloa (in the west), several dozen civilians were extrajudicially executed by people dressed in military fatigues. Those killed were Ivorians with Muslim names or citizens of other countries from the sub-region, especially Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea. The Ivorian authorities acknowledged the killings and ordered an inquiry. However, they claimed that the security forces were not responsible, despite the fact that eyewitnesses stated that the killers had arrived in tanks and military vehicles, in some cases bearing the initials of the Brigade anti-émeute (BAE), Anti-Riot Brigade.

Mass grave in Monoko-Zohi

In December, French soldiers discovered a mass grave containing dozens of bodies in Monoko Zohi, near Vavoua. Eyewitnesses told AI that the village, which was occupied by the MPCI, had been attacked at the end of November by uniformed government soldiers. The soldiers reportedly killed people named on a handwritten list, including Adama Ouédraogo, a businessman, Ali Ouédraogo, Kafale Boukary and Podogo Ali. The soldiers threw some bodies down wells. The remaining villagers buried the bodies and were forced to leave the area because the wells had been poisoned. The government and the MPCI both denied responsibility and called for an international inquiry.

Human rights violations in the Man region

Government forces committed massacres in December after recapturing the town of Man near the border with Liberia, which was occupied in late November by the MJP and the MPIGO. Soldiers arrested many people, notably members of the RDR, some of whom then "disappeared". Among the "disappeared" were Maméry Soumahoro, president of the RDR district committee; Traoré Abdoulaye, local president of the Cercle Alassane Dramane Ouattara, Alassane Dramane Ouattara Circle; Bonsié Blaise, a correspondent for Le Nouvel Espoir; and Kababou Cissé, head of the western transport union.

Detention without charge or trial

After the uprising, dozens of people including members or alleged members of the RDR were arrested and held in incommunicado detention. Among them was Aly Keita, deputy spokesman of the RDR, who was still held at the end of 2002. It was unclear how many had been charged and presented to a judge. Most were transferred in November to the main civil prison in Abidjan.

Destruction of homes and extortion by the security forces

In the days immediately after the uprising, the security forces destroyed several shanty towns and makeshift homes inhabited by Ivorians and people from other countries of the sub-region, on the grounds that these poor areas "were sheltering assailants". The destruction resulted in the displacement of thousands of people who were left without shelter. These operations took place in an atmosphere of heightened nationalism stirred up by certain news media, including the state radio and television service. Despite a promise by President Gbagbo in October of an end to such destruction, the security forces continued to carry out raids, to destroy houses and to intimidate and extort money from the people who lived there. The people expelled from their homes did not obtain any relocation assistance from the government.

Harassment of human rights defenders and journalists

Several human rights defenders and journalists were harassed. Some received death threats and others were briefly held for questioning.

• In October, a member of an AI delegation, Gaetan Mootoo, was taken in for questioning by members of the security forces in Haoussa Bougou, an area of Abidjan, together with a member of the Mouvement ivoirien des droits de l'homme, Côte d'Ivoire Human Rights Movement. At the time of their arrest, the two human rights defenders were interviewing women whose homes had been destroyed. They were all taken to the central police headquarters and were released one hour later, following the intervention of the Minister of Justice.

Unlawful killings by armed opposition groups

The three armed opposition groups – the MPCI, the MPIGO and the MJP – summarily executed dozens of unarmed members of the security forces and others suspected of supporting the government. They also seized a number of people who then went missing. The three groups called on the population to denounce anyone thought to be a military official or government sympathizer. Several such people were reportedly killed on the spot. Other people accused of being thieves or of having committed ordinary criminal offences were summarily executed in public.

• On 6 October, after an attack by government forces to recapture the town of Bouaké from the MPCI, dozens of gendarmes accompanied by about 50 of their children were seized by the MPCI and detained in a military camp in Bouaké. About 60 gendarmes were reported to have been summarily killed in their cells, and fellow detainees who were forced to bury the bodies then "disappeared". AI feared that they might have been killed at the mass grave site after burying their fellow detainees.
• In Bouaké, on 8 October, a soldier called N'Da was killed at his home in the district of Broukro, in Bouaké, where he was hiding. He was not wearing military uniform but someone had apparently denounced him.
• When the MJP and the MPIGO took the town of Man on 28 November, they sought out and killed gendarmes who had hidden in the houses of civilians. They also killed people who had agreed to hide the gendarmes. Other civilians were killed because they were suspected of supporting the President.

Arbitrary detention by armed groups

Dozens of people, including members of the security forces, were held in the areas held by the three armed opposition groups. The whereabouts and conditions of detention of many remained unknown.

• Several people were held for several days by MPCI forces, including the Minister of Sport, François Amichia. Journalist Christophe Koffi, a correspondent for Agence France Presse, was held in Korhogo for almost a week. In September Martin Bléou, president of the Ligue ivoirienne des droits de l'homme (LIDHO), Côte d'Ivoire Human Rights League, who was in Bouaké when the town was taken by MPCI forces, was detained for several hours.

Threats to AI delegates

Despite written assurances from the MPCI authorities guaranteeing the security of an AI delegation on a research mission in the north of the country in December, AI delegates were repeatedly threatened, sometimes with death, by young armed combatants at the numerous road checkpoints.

Restrictions on freedom of movement

In the area held by the MPCI, some people from the south of the country or with unusual family names were denied the right to leave the region.

• A witness in Korhogo told the AI delegation how in December he was prevented from boarding a bus to the south of the country because the local authorities wanted to keep him as "a human shield to stop the loyalists bombarding the town".

Child soldiers

The armed opposition groups, notably the MPCI, recruited young people, including children apparently as young as 14, to serve as soldiers. Such young and untrained recruits were armed and were often deployed at checkpoints along the region's roads. AI delegates witnessed the deployment of child soldiers and saw displays of aggressive and violent behaviour by them.

AI country visits

In October, AI delegates visited Côte d'Ivoire. They met officials including the Minister of Justice, and carried out research. In December, AI delegates carried out a research mission to the north of the country to assess the human rights and humanitarian situation. They also met MPCI officials.