PRO-OUATTARA FORCES ETHNIC CLEANSING IN IVORYCOAST

In a few towns and villages, the Republican Forces of Ouattara arrived sooner than expected, before most people had taken flight, and frequently opened fire as the panicked population tried to flee into the surrounding bush. Human Rights Watch documented dozens of killings during such instances in Toulepleu, Diboké, Doké, and Bloléquin.
Witnesses said pro-Ouattara forces went house-to-house after taking over a village, killing many who remained. A 23-year-old from Diboké told Human Rights Watch that fighters from the Republican Forces entered her house and killed her mother, father, and younger brother. She escaped through a window, ultimately fleeing to Liberia. A 25-year-old from Bloléquin hid under her bed as pro-Ouattara forces entered her house and killed her 20-year-old sister. In at least four cases documented by Human Rights Watch, victims had parts of their arms cut off and then their insides cut out with long knives - two while they were still living, two others after they had been shot.
After working through the towns and villages, some Republican Forces fanned out on foot on the smaller roads into areas where residents work on their cocoa plantations - killing additional people who believed they had fled to safety. In one of several such accounts, a 47-year-old woman told Human Rights Watch:

When we heard that the rebels were coming, my family fled to our campement (small cocoa plantation). It's two kilometers outside of Doké, on a road you can only get to on foot or motorbike. We thought we would be safe there, even if there was fighting in the town. On March 16, I was with my father, husband, and 10-year-old son. My sister and her children were also there. We were preparing food when two rebels came across us in the bush. One of them was dressed in full military camouflage with a white bandana; the other one had on military pants and a black t-shirt. Perhaps they'd seen the fire, that's how they found us.

They saw me first, and they opened fire on me from 20 or 30 meters away. I went down to the ground and pretended I was dead. They hadn't hit me. Then they saw the others and went toward them. They opened fire again, and they killed my family - my son, my husband, and my father were all killed. They were shooting with big guns, guns that fired quickly like "boom-boom-boom." I lay there, watching as my boy fell down dead, but I couldn't cry. If I cried they would know that I was still alive, and they would have killed me. But why am I still alive? They have taken my son, my husband, and my father. I have nothing. I'm no longer alive anyway.

They left again and after a little time I got up and looked at the bodies. Blood had run into the ground, but none of them were moving anymore. My boy had been hit with two bullets, one in the chest and the other one in the stomach. I held him and cried silently. My sister then came out of hiding - they'd been a little distance away when the rebels came and had been able to hide in the bush - and said we needed to go.

We went toward Bloléquin, but when we got there we found out in the bush that the rebels had taken over the town. So we passed through the bush toward Guiglo. When we got there we discovered that the loyalist troops had left, so we took flight again, this time toward Tai. We went 20 kilometers on the bush road there and then crossed over into Liberia on a pirogue.

After summarily killing Guéré civilians found in a village, the Republican Forces often proceeded to pillage and burn houses, dozens of witnesses told Human Rights Watch. Human Rights Watch documented the partial burning of at least 10 Guéré villages around Toulepleu and Bloléquin. Several witnesses told Human Rights Watch that while hiding in the bush they saw structures used to store the village's rice and rice seed being burned by pro-Ouattara forces.