Deploy mission to monitor human rights, HRW urges

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on the UN Security Council to set up a mission in Cote d'Ivoire to monitor and report on human rights violations by all sides to the seven-month-old conflict in the West African country. The call came in a body of recommendations made by HRW in a letter on Monday ahead of a Security Council discussion on the situation in Cote d'Ivoire. The letter was meant to draw the Council's attention to the deteriorating human rights situation in western Côte d'Ivoire, where government troops have been fighting two rebel groups, the Movement for Justice and Peace (MJP - Mouvement pour la Justice et la Paix) and the Ivorian Popular Movement for the Great West (MPIGO - Mouvement populaire ivoirien du Grand Ouest),and to recommend actions that the Security Council should take to address the crisis. "Unless immediate steps are taken to contain the conflict in the west of the country and the human rights abuses that have accompanied it, the fragile peace in Côte d'Ivoire may collapse and further threaten regional stability," HRW said. Conflict in west becoming extension of Liberian war "The situation in western Cote d'Ivoire requires the Security Council's attention due to the urgent need for protection of civilians as well as the cross-border character of the conflict," HRW said. "... the conflict there is increasingly becoming an extension of the Liberian war." A situation of attacks, counter attacks and displacement, sometimes multiple, has obtained on both sides of the border between Cote d'Ivoire and Liberia over the past few months. In Cote d'Ivoire the worst affected area lies mainly between the border towns of Danane and Toulepleu, and as far east as Man and Guiglo. Man is about 80 km east of Danane, while Guiglo is 122 km south of Man. On the other side of the border, rebels opposed to the government of President Charles Taylor control parts of Grand Gedeh County - which is close to Toulepleu and Danane -, Nimba, which is farther north, and Sinoe, south of Grand Gedeh. The Liberian rebel groups are the Liberians United for Reconstruction and Democracy (LURD) and the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL). Massacres, looting, rape HRW said a ceasefire signed on 13 January 2003 by the Ivorian government and the MPIGO and MJP rebels "has been violated numerous times by both sides". Both sides have been responsible for violations of international humanitarian law, including rape, attacks on civilians, systematic looting of civilian property and executions of suspected enemy sympathizers, according to the watchdog, which added that at least two massacres had been reported in the area in March 2003, in the western towns of Bangolo and Dah. There were "at least one hundred civilian deaths from the two incidents," HRW reported. "According to civilians who fled these two locations, Liberians and Ivorians fighting for the government of Côte d'Ivoire were responsible for the killings in Bangolo, while rebel fighters were responsible for the killings in Dah. Human Rights Watch was not able to travel to these sites and further investigation is required." HRW said that over the past two months, it had gathered information from refugees and displaced civilians in Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, and Burkina Faso who provided consistent and compelling descriptions of the severe human rights situation. "It is clear that extensive abuses, including killings, rape, and systematic looting of civilian property, are taking place in areas where access is very limited, making independent documentation and verification very difficult," it said. "This underscores the critical need for further investigation of abuses in the west. Reprisal killings; helicopter gunships Both sides have also been responsible for reprisal killings, particularly when towns have changed hands, Human Rights Watch said. "This was the case in Man in December 2002, when a loyalist counteroffensive captured the town and held it for approximately ten days," it added, "and in Toulepleu, which was captured by rebels in December 2002 and then re-taken by the government in January 2003. "Reprisal killings by government forces have often been based on ethnic, national, or political affiliation, while rebel forces have targeted government officials or suspected government sympathizers. It is essential that both warring parties protect civilians and make every effort to minimize civilian casualties in any future offensives in the area." Even where conflict on the ground has not targeted civilians, government helicopter gunships have been responsible for civilian casualties, HRW reported. It said it had documented "several incidents in which civilians have been the victims of indiscriminate attacks by helicopter gunships. A December 2002 attack on Mahapleu [a village in the west], for instance, resulted in at least nine civilian victims when a helicopter gunship fired into a crowd of civilians at the local market from a distance of sixty meters, a clear violation of international humanitarian law. "The government's renewed use of helicopter gunships in Bin-Houyé and Danane during the week of April 7, 2003, may be a cause for concern, although it is not yet clear whether these attacks were limited to military targets. "It must be added that in several incidents, the rebel forces also bear responsibility for not clearly separating military targets from civilian sites. For example, the deployment of military forces near civilians led to civilian deaths in a helicopter attack on Vavoua town in December 2002." Human Rights Watch said both rebels and government forces in Cote d'Ivoire had been using Liberian fighters, some of whom "have been implicated in serious human rights abuses in Liberia and Sierra Leone". Both sides using Liberia fighters Civilians who fled rebel-held western towns told HRW the rebel forces contain Ivorian, Sierra Leonean and Liberian fighters, but the "Liberians constitute the largest proportion of the western rebel forces". Victims told HRW that Liberians systematically looted civilian property, assaulted civilians and sometimes raped women and girls. "Credible sources have stated that among the Sierra Leoneans fighting alongside the rebels are some former RUF [Revolutionary United Front] fighters, including Sam Bockarie ("Mosquito"), who was recently indicted by the Sierra Leone Special Court," HRW said. HRW also said several hundred Liberians were fighting alongside the government forces. These, it said, were often former refugees who have been recruited or felt compelled to join the government forces in order to demonstrate their loyalty in the face of increased anti-Liberian feeling in Côte d'Ivoire. Civilians who fled Toulepleu, Blolequin and other villages under the control of government forces, told HRW most of the armed forces in these locations were Liberians, although there were also some Ivorians among the fighters. Child soldiers HRW said it had documented cases of systematic looting of property and rape of civilians and gathered accounts of children among the Liberian fighters on both sides, many of whom are as young as nine years old While both the Ivorian government and rebels "bear responsibility for introducing Liberian combatants into the Ivoirian conflict, it is apparent that neither side exerts full control over their Liberian fighters, and that western Cote d'Ivoire has become an extension of the neighboring Liberian war," HRW noted. Recommendations to the Security Council The international watchdog urged the UN Security Council to "immediately call on all parties to the conflict in Cote d'Ivoire to respect human rights and international humanitarian law regarding treatment of civilians and other non-combatants, and to hold accountable members of their forces responsible for abuses." It urged the council to "establish a human rights monitoring mission in Cote d'Ivoire, with appropriate human, financial and technical resources, which reports to the Security Council". The mission should have as extensive a field presence as possible, and should be mandated "to report on violations of human rights and humanitarian law by all sides to the conflict, including Liberian combatants, and should make recommendations about mechanisms for holding perpetrators accountable". "The mission's reports should be made public," HRW said. Other recommendations include a call for all neighbouring states, in particular Guinea, to keep borders open to all civilians fleeing the conflict in western Côte d'Ivoire, including nationals of ECOWAS countries attempting to enter via Liberia. Many third-country nationals, mostly Burkinabe, have gone to Ghana by boat via Liberia after fleeing Cote d'Ivoire. The council should urge Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) forces "together with French forces supporting them, to ensure that civilians are protected from physical violence in accordance with Security Council Resolution 1464 (2003)," the watchdog said. That resolution mandates the French and ECOWAS forces stationedd in Cote d'Ivoire to use force where necessary to protect civilian lives. Other UN instruments related to the protection of civilians in armed conflicts include an aide memoire issued in March 2002 (S/PRST/2002/6) accessible at: www.reliefweb.int/library/documents/2002/Advocacy/SPRST20026%20aide%20memoire.htm Other sites containing information on civilian protection include: www.reliefweb.int/ocha_ol/civilians www.irinnews.org/webspecials/civilprotect/default.asp