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POLITICS-CODE D'IVOIRE: Ethnic War Threatening to Spiral Out of Control
By Francky Kouakou
ABIDJAN, June 9 (IPS) - The injury of three persons, two seriously, in western Cote d'Ivoire this week reflects the deep-seated animosity between some ethnic groups in this West African country.
The fighting, in reprisal for the death of four people, occurred in Duekoue, 400 kilometres west of the commercial capital of Abidjan.
Last week more than 100 Gueres, who are indigenous to the region, were cut to pieces with machetes and sprayed with bullets. The incidents occurred at Guitrozon and Petit Duekoue, the villages adjacent to the city of Duekoue.
Some of the civilians were dismembered. Others were burned alive. Women, children and old people, many of whom died from injuries, were awakened in the morning of June 2 by their assailants.
The survivors identified the attackers as ‘Dozos', traditional hunters from northern Cote d'Ivoire, who escaped after the attacks.
In Duekoue, the Guere and their nemesis, the settlers, mostly Dioulas (Muslims from northern Cote d'Ivoire) and immigrants from neighbouring Burkina Faso, have been at each other's throats for several years. Their relations have been exacerbated by the political and military crisis in Cote d'Ivoire.
And what most Ivorians feared at the beginning of the crisis in September 2002 is now coming to pass: ethnic war, starting in the country's west.
The settlers outnumber the indigenous people in this cocoa and coffee-producing region. The Gueres sold off much of their land to the settlers living in the villages of Duekoue. In the city of Duekoue, most shops and transport companies are now owned by the Dioulas.
The population of the Duekoue region is estimated at 150,000. Two-fifths of the residents are settlers, according to official sources.
‘'The relations between Guere and the Dioulas and the Mossis (from Burkina Faso) began to deteriorate in 1996 when land ownership problems divided the communities,'' Emmanuel Tanoh of the non-governmental organisation Notre Nation (Our Nation), explained.
According to Tanoh, the current national crisis aggravated an already tense local situation. ‘'Here, the Gueres accuse the Dioulas of supporting the rebels. The Dioulas, on the other hand, not only deny this accusation, they say they are fed up with members of their community being murdered by militias close to the head of state. These militias are mainly composed of young Gueres,'' he said.
The tension was beginning to ease June 5, when it was suddenly reversed by nightfall.
‘'We were awakened by the sound of gunshot during the night. Three people from one family - two girls and one of their uncles - were killed,'' Djaratou Dambele, a resident, told IPS.
She said the shots were fired by Gueres even though a curfew had been put into effect a week earlier prohibiting civilians from leaving their homes after the sunset.
The resumption of violence, despite the government's pleas for peace last week, was clearly obvious in the city, according to analysts. Gueres are barred from entering Dioula neighbourhoods and vice versa.
The Carrefour neighborhood, a stronghold of the Patriotic Association of the We (AP-We), a militia close to Ivorian president Laurent Gbgabo, is accused by the Dioulas of being at the root of the murders and the city's insecurity.
‘'In Duekoue, there's no secret. Militiamen in combat uniforms attack the Dioulas,'' said a young man from the community.
The first direct confrontations between the two communities, which came on the heels of a transport and traders' strike, occurred between Apr. 29 and May 2. Twenty-five people were killed.
Dioula shopkeepers and transporters shut down their operations as a denunciation of racketeering by the police and the insecurity along the road between Duekoue and Man, in the west of the country. Several days prior to the work stoppage, three Dioulas were killed in attacks on public transport vehicles.
Within the two opposing camps, the National Armed Forces of Cote d'Ivoire are being accused of doing nothing to maintain order. ‘'The soldiers stationed in Duekoue are responsible for the massacres which took place fewer than 50 metres outside their base,'' Omer Sion, a Guere, said.
Sion, like many of the city's residents, maintained that ‘'these soldiers spend their time drinking in the local bars and restaurants and trying to score with the girls''.
Souleymane Diawara, who works at Duekoue bus station, said: ‘'No one here feels safe. The soldiers have turned into petty businessmen. They are more interested in their own deals than in our safety.''
Professional soldiers were posted to the region to secure the western regions of the country. Duekoue is the last city under government control before Man, to the west, which is under rebel authority. Cote d'Ivoire is divided in two. The south is under the control of the regular army, while the north is held by the rebels.
During a visit to the scene of the incident June 2, the army chief-of-staff, Colonel Phillipe Mangou, seemed to assuage the anger of the people displaced from the Catholic mission, who were demanding that the town's military commander be removed. Mangou simply replied, ‘'I understand you. We will be very firm in taking the necessary measures''.
Desire Tagro, president Gbagbo's spokesperson, told the nation in a televised statement June 3: ‘'These attacks carry the identifying markings of the rebels''. The rebels have controlled the northern half of the country since the beginning of their revolt on Sept. 19, 2002.
Tagro admitted, however, that ‘'these attacks occurred within the zone under government control, but near the buffer zone''. United Nations Peacekeepers and a contingent from France's Operation Unicorn control this buffer zone.
‘'The Ivorian security forces generally don't have to worry about attacks coming from the buffer zone since it is under the control of impartial forces whose mission is to prevent the movement of armed persons within the zone by any means necessary,'' he added.
Forces Nouvelles, which is the group that led the rebellion, did not take long to respond. ‘'You need to first look toward the many militias in Laurent Gbagbo's pocket. They are the ones sowing terror in the west,'' said Sidiki Konate, their spokesperson.
While forces involved in the Ivorian conflict are busy accusing each other of the Duekoue massacres, the situation on the ground is getting nastier each day.
When Lt-Col. Jules Yao Yao, the Ivorian army spokesperson, admitted May 31 that ‘'the disarming of the militias, which began in the west, has not yet produced the hoped-for results'', the worries multiplied. He hinted that the operation might even be a complete failure.
The Pretoria Accord, signed by the Ivorian belligerents in South Africa's capital in April, provides for a ‘sensitisation' phase, which began May 14, and disarmament, which will take place from June 27 to Aug. 10, 2005.
Honouring the time limits of this calendar will allow the presidential elections, scheduled for October, to proceed peacefully, analysts say. (END/2005)
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