Human rights violations reported

Security forces and insurgents in Cote d’Ivoire have committed abuses and rights violations, including extra judicial executions, according to various sources, including Amnesty International and media organisations. State officials deny some of the accusations. Amnesty’s report, issued on 18 October, blamed security forces for the deaths of former president General Robert Guei, his wife and other members of his entourage. They were killed on 19 September, hours after the start of a failed coup d’etat of which Guei was accused of being a leader. Security forces also killed six foreigners, including three Burkinabes, in Cote d’Ivoire’s commercial capital, Abidjan, Amnesty said. Killings in Abidjan following the coup "On 7 October at about 19:00 hours, gendarmes asked these three persons to present their identity cards," Amnesty quoted an eyewitness as saying. "They then asked them to lie face down on the ground. One of the gendarmes took his rifle. The Burkinabe asked for mercy. The two other gendarmes tried in vain to dissuade their colleague from shooting. "Two of them died on the spot. The third died on the following day. They were buried on 10 October." Amnesty also reported that it was not allowed to visit people detained in secret locations since 19 September and who, it reported the Attorney-General as saying, numbered 59. The detainees, Amnesty said, included the spokesman of the opposition Rassemblement des Republicains (RDR) who has said that many other RDR officials and militants have been detained since 19 September. The spokesman has since been released. The secret detentions, Amnesty said, were worrying because they could encourage torture and bad treatment and called on the authorities to allow the detainees access to their families, lawyers and, where necessary, medical care. Those against whom there are no charges should be freed immediately, the watchdog said. Security forces targeted in rebel-held area Amnesty also expressed concern over the fate of dozens of people arrested by the rebels, particularly in Bouake, and of whom there has been no news. It said secret detentions favoured ill treatment adding that it was essential for the detainees to have access to humanitarian organisations. The Amnesty team was unable to go to areas held by the rebels, who occupy parts of northern and central Cote d’Ivoire, but that it had received information on abuses committed by the insurgents, mainly summary executions of members of the security forces and suspected government supporters, abductions and the recruitment of child soldiers. Amnesty said it had received information that many members of the security forces found in uniform while they were not in combat were gunned down in cold blood by the insurgents, who call themselves the Mouvement patriotique de Cote d’Ivoire (MPCI). An eye witness told Amnesty: "On Tuesday 8 October, a soldier named N’Da was killed at his home in Bouake while he was hiding. He was not in uniform and had been pointed out." Amnesty also said it had received confirmation that on occupying Bouake the insurgents had encouraged the population to denounce military officials and government supporters. The watchdog also said that on 8 October, the insurgents fired blindly into a crowd during a march organised by some residents of the town to express their joy after hearing news that the loyalist troops had entered Bouake, which proved untrue. "This excessive use of force is contrary to all international norms," Amnesty said. Mourners gunned down at burial Since the abuses documented by Amnesty, there have been other reports of extra judicial killings. In Abidjan, two persons were killed in broad daylight when armed men in combat fatigues fired into a crowd at a burial on Friday, local media including the state-owned Fraternite Matin reported. The incident occurred at the burial of a sister of the deputy secretary-general of the opposition RDR, whose leader and militants have been accused by pro-government media of supporting the insurgents. The Ministry of Defense announced on television that "men in combat fatigues are perpetrating violence on a certain category of the population to discredit the defense forces". Widespread violations reported in western town Media organisations have also reported human rights violations in Daloa, a western town that was briefly occupied by insurgents and recaptured by loyalist forces. BBC quoted one resident of Daloa as saying early this week: "The soldiers are going from compound to compound asking for the heads of the household and rounding them up. Then we hear shots. We are being blamed for supporting the rebels because we are Dioula." The Dioula are a mainly Muslim ethnic group who live in northern Cote d’Ivoire and neighbouring countries including Mali and Burkina Faso. Many of the insurgents are said to be northerners. Some of the people reported killed in Daloa were Malian citizens, which prompted Mali’s government to issue a protest which was read out on state radio in Bamako. A Malian official told IRIN over 10 Malians were known to have been killed in Daloa including the president of the local Malian association and a religious leader. He said the death toll could be higher because only the names of the more prominent victims were known. The events in Daloa forced hundreds of people to seek refuge in the town’s mosque. Armed forces spokesman denies atrocities Armed forces spokesman Col. Jules Yao Yao said on Tuesday during a televised update on the situation in the west that the media reports on abuses were "tendentious". He accused foreign media of siding with the rebels and said he wished to "reestablish the truth concerning the situation in Daloa". Yao Yao said security forces were combing the town. "These operations enable us not only to overcome any pockets of resistance, but especially to discover hidden assailants and weapons". "Each day during the searches, corpses [of people] who died during the fighting are found. These are not individuals intentionally murdered by the security forces [...] Moreover, on the basis of the high command’s definition of the assailant, the mop-up operations also concern individuals who lodged or actively assisted the assailants." House searches by the loyalist forces have "lead certain populations to seek refuge in mosques", he said. People "who have nothing to hide" should remain calm "because all the actions of the republican forces are, more than ever, within the framework of the law and morality," he said.