Burkinabes displaced in the southwest

Thousands of Burkinabe immigrants have been displaced by communal violence near Tabou, in southwest Cote d’Ivoire, during the past week following a dispute over land rights with members of an Ivoirian ethnic group, the Krumen, according to humanitarian and media sources.

The majority of the Burkinabe immigrants, some of whom arrived in the area more than 10 years ago, have been working on the cocoa plantations.

Boubacar Diabi, acting secretary-general of the Ivoirian Red Cross, which has an office in Tabou, told IRIN on Monday that some 2,500 displaced had arrived in the town from surrounding villages. Another 1,500, half of them children, were in Grabo, some 50 km north-west of Tabou.

The situation was discussed at a “crisis committee” held on Sunday in Tabou and attended by local officials, WFP, UNHCR, Ivoirian Red Cross, Caritas and MSF, Diabi said.

Diabi was unable to verify media reports that thousands of Burkinabes had returned to Burkina Faso. He said some had fled to Soubre, some 150 km north-east of Tabou, where a number opted to remain with relatives while others continued to travel north to their home country.

A statement issued by the government late last week confirmed that there had been an exodus of Burkinabe nationals from the Tabou area. The statement added that regional officials had been told to restore calm and that a ministerial delegation would visit the area to promote dialogue.