At least 10 soldiers loyal to the disputed presidency of Laurent Gbagbo have been killed by unidentified “commandos” amid renewed political violence in Côte d’Ivoire, according to reports.
The ambush followed clashes in a stronghold of Gbagbo’s rival, Alassane Ouattara, and an Amnesty International investigation that uncovered a wave of murders, beatings and gang rapes.
An African Union delegation led by President Jacob Zuma has failed to end the crippling power struggle between Gbagbo and Ouattara, who is widely acknowledged as the winner of elections in November.
An adviser to Ouattara, who did not wish to be named, told the Associated Press that “invisible commandos” seized at least four military and police vehicles in a pro-Ouattara neighbourhood in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire’s largest city, killing forces loyal to Gbagbo. The death toll could not be independently confirmed. BBC News put the toll at least 10.
Gunfire and explosions rocked the district of Abobo, residents and the military said. Sephora Konate, a market trader, said she heard explosions and machine-gun fire.
“Since this morning there has been constant shooting between the military and the people here,” she told Reuters. “Everyone is terrified. Children are crying, but there’s nothing we can say to comfort them.”
Abobo has been the scene of brutal attacks by security forces loyal to Gbagbo, who refuses to cede power in spite of intense pressure from the United Nations and West African neighbours. On February 21 witnesses said soldiers shot at supporters of Ouattara during demonstrations, killing at least six. At least 300 people have died since the disputed poll, with Gbagbo’s forces accused of human rights violations.
Gaetan Mootoo, an Amnesty researcher who has just spent a month in Côte d’Ivoire, said: “In the west of the country women told us that they have been gang-raped in January 2011 in their homes in view of their children and others told us they were raped on their way to the market. Eyewitnesses have also seen men beaten and deliberately killed in the street.”
International media interest in the crisis has waned in recent weeks as attention turned to uprisings across North Africa and the Middle East. Mootoo said: “The eyes of the world may have shifted from the political stalemate in Ivory Coast, but the abuses clearly are continuing.
“Both the security forces and the Forces Nouvelles [former rebels loyal to Ouattara] are committing these horrific acts and their victims have no recourse to justice. This reign of terror must end.” An estimated 70 000 people have fled their homes in the west of the country and settled in displacement sites or refugee camps across the border in Liberia and Guinea. In the town of Duekoue Amnesty researchers found that scores of people had been killed, with several women raped and hundreds of homes burned and looted.
One woman told the human rights group of an attack on January 3: “They came early in the morning… they had knives and machetes. They broke the door and grabbed me. Their faces were blackened with charcoal.
“They said nothing, threw themselves on me and did horrible things to me. They raped me, three or four of them. They burned my house — the house of my family — and they killed my brother. “They stole everything from my shop and then burned it down. We fled the same day.” – Guardian News & Media 2011