/ 30 October 2000

DOZENS HELD IN ABIDJAN TORTURE CAMP

SCORES of people, mostly Muslims or foreigners, are in detention in a police camp in Ivory Coast and dozens more are missing after ethnic and political clashes last week, say relatives and political sources. Aly Coulibaly, representative of the opposition Rally of the Republicans (RDR), which draws its support from the Muslim north, said that at least 116 of the party’s activists had been detained and over 100 more were missing. Ethnic and religious tensions boiled over into communal rioting last week, followed by the discovery on Friday of around 50 bullet-riddled bodies in a forest clearing north of the city. – Reuters