IVORYCOAST: OUATTARA'S BRUTAL REGIME DICTATORSHIP

Eighteen months after the end of a post-election conflict which caused over 3,000 deaths and was merely the epilogue of a decade-long political and military crisis, no one could have expected a complete return to normalcy. IvoryCoast has to cope with challenges commonly faced by post-war countries. The security apparatus is struggling to get back in order.
Over 18,000 traditional hunters deployed across the territory, the so-called Dozos, helped secure the country, thus playing a role for which they have neither legitimacy nor skills. This military and militia apparatus working for the government is not well accepted, especially by the opposition. Political turmoil is accompanied by a return of hateful and dangerous discourses relayed by a partisan press, loyal to president Ouattara governement. In this climate of polarisation, the government is making decisions that gradually move it away from its campaign promises of better governance and a break with the past. The judicial system remains biased: not a single FRCI ( Ouattara's forces ) member has been charged, either for crimes committed during the post-election crisis or for those committed since. Arbitrary arrests have been taking place in the opposition media and have been widely carried out by the powerful Direction de la surveillance du territoire (DST) and military police.
In the administration and public companies, some appointments were made on regional or political criteria, in the name of an “adjustment policy” – a form of reverse discrimination that allows only Ouattara's friends, family members, and his tribesmen to be appointed to higher administration positions– that contradicts promises of improving governance.

The political class does not seem to have learned all the lessons from the post-electoral crisis, and is repeating the very attitudes that have led the country to the brink. It is urgent for President Ouattara, the new government and the entire ruling political class to resist the temptation of abusing power, which has already cost many lives in Côte d’Ivoire. It is time for the African organisations and the international community to publicly and firmly denounce the current Ivorian regime’s dysfunctions.