Five witnesses clearly identified Republican Forces among the attackers, saying they arrived in the neighborhood in trucks, 4x4s, and on foot in military uniforms. Others described seeing two pro-Ouattara militias that worked closely with the Republican Forces in committing abuses against the civilian population: a tribally based civil defense group known as the Dozo, generally armed with shotguns and identified by some witnesses as dressed in their traditional robes; and a group of Burkinabé militiamen who live in the region and are led by a man referred to primarily by his first name, Amadé.
The Carrefour neighborhood's residents have long had a concentrated presence of pro-Gbagbo militia. However, according to witnesses interviewed by Human Rights Watch, the pro-Ouattara forces there executed men not believed to be militia members, including boys and older men. Statements made by members of the pro-Ouattara forces as they took part in the massacre demonstrate that they were targeting the neighborhood's population as collective punishment against the Guéré, victims and witnesses said. A 39-year-old woman described the killing of her husband as well as dozens of others, in testimony similar to those of numerous others who witnessed the massacre:
It was Tuesday morning [March 29], right after the [pro-Ouattara] rebels took control of Duékoué, that they came into the neighborhood and started shooting everywhere. There had to have been 500 of them that descended on the neighborhood that morning.A 29-year-old woman from Carrefour likewise said her husband was killed in front of her because he was Guéré, followed by the forcible recruitment of her 15-year-old brother:
They went house-to-house and took the men out to kill them. Two of them broke down my door and entered the house; they forced my husband outside. Several others were carrying a flame and set the house on fire. I came out screaming behind them, and they shot my husband at point-blank range. It was with a large gun; one of them pulled him out and the other shot him. As my husband fell down no more than five meters from me, they said in French "We're here to kill Gbagbo, but since you the Guéré voted for Gbagbo, we'll kill you, we'll kill you until the last Guéré."
Then the rebels moved on to the next house, leaving me there screaming. My husband, my brother-in-law, several cousins, they were all killed by Alassane's [Ouattara] forces that day.
Most of the attackers throughout the neighborhood were in military uniform - the uniforms of the Republican Forces. Many had on red headscarves. Others were the Dozo in the traditional clothes and some Dioula youth who came with knives and machetes. The Republican Forces came in first on their cars and on foot, and then the rest followed. They killed unarmed people everywhere. I saw people who had their throats slit with machetes and knives, others who were executed by gunshot. You could see the blood marking the road from all those who were killed. Bodies were everywhere. You could just see lines of bodies from those they'd marched out and shot.
Most of those killed were males, but they killed boys like men like the elderly. I saw them kill boys, right in front of my eyes. One of them couldn't be more than 10 years old and as they had pulled him out he looked at me so scared and said, "Mama, please," and then they shot him. Everywhere there were people dead by gunshot. Our husbands, our brothers, our children were all killed.
Around 8 a.m. on Tuesday [March 29], they began attacking the Carrefour neighborhood where we live. They told the women they could leave but, "We're here to kill your men." There were many, many of them. There were Dozo, Amadé's men, armed youth in civilian clothes, and FN [Forces Nouvelles] soldiers. We were hiding in our house, my brother, my husband and our baby.
After the forces came to say "Women leave, men we'll kill you," everyone started trying to escape if they could. We did the same. At 1 p.m. we had fled our house and were on foot along the main route near the bridge.
There were many corpses in the streets, pro-Ouattara forces everywhere in the middle of killings. I saw people being shot with Kalashes around us in the streets as we fled, but I couldn't pay attention, I was too scared. A 4x4 passed us; one of them saw us and pulled over. They parked the vehicle right by us. There was a design of a serpent on it.
Three men got out and stopped my husband. They said, "We are looking for Guérés. You voted for Gbagbo, we are going to kill all of you. You are Guéré." He said "No, I voted for ADO [Ouattara's initials]," but they said "No you didn't, you are Guéré so you voted Gbagbo." We didn't vote in fact. They pulled my husband away from me. I had our 6-month-old baby in my arms. They were chanting "ADO! ADO! You are all Guérés, you who voted for Gbabgo! You didn't vote ADO, we are going to kill you all. They're all Gbagbos here."
Then they shot my husband in his stomach. All three of them fired their Kalashes at him, even when he was just in front of them. They looked at my 6-month-old baby and decided my baby couldn't be of use, but my 15-year-old brother was there too. He was crying, "Why did you kill him?" Killing my husband wasn't enough; they took my little brother as a soldier. They said, "Today you will become a soldier. We are going to take you to Man. In Man, you will become a soldier." Man is where their base is, those who are shooting us, the Forces Nouvelles. They took him by force to the truck. There were at least six other young boys inside waiting, including children that looked as young as 10. I didn't recognize them, but they were boys in civilian clothes, with fear on their faces. I heard the boys begging [for] forgiveness as the men came back, but the soldiers didn't reply. They pushed my brother in with the other boys, got back in and drove off. I've had no news of my little brother since.
The men who killed my husband were military men carrying knives, machetes, and Kalashes. They were wearing warriors' gris-gris [traditional amulets often worn by fighters from the north], jean pants, and military camouflage tops. It was clear they were pro-Ouattara forces; they were singing ADO. FN had taken over the city that day, with the Dozo and the Burkinabe who were out on the streets too, burning things and killing people, going house to house. There was not a single house left untouched in Carrefour. They burned the houses. My apartment doesn't exist anymore; it was burned like the others.
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