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.

TITROLOGIE

TITROLOGIE

IVORYCOAST: INHUMANE TREATMENT OF OPPOSITION LEADERS BY OUATTARA REGIME

More than 200 people including leaders of the main opposition party ( FPI ) have faced illegal detention and torture with many still languishing behind bars, Amnesty International can reveal after members of the organisation returned from a month-long mission to IvoryCoast.

“We were able to meet dozens of detainees who told us how they have been tortured by electricity or had molten plastic poured on their bodies, two of them have been sexually abused. Some have been held for many months and denied contact with their families and access to lawyers” said Gaëtan Mootoo, Amnesty International researcher on West Africa

DETAINED FOR 78 DAYS WITHOUT BEING CHARGED

IVORYCOAST (ABIDAJN): The former representative of the Plateau district (Abidjan) and member of the main opposition party (FPI), Mady Bouabré is languishing since Monday, August 6, 2012 in a hospice for the Directorate of Territorial Surveillance (Dst) based in Abidjan-Cocody. This is exactly 2 months and 17 days since this  representative has been detained by president Ouattara regime without being formally charged. Visits from his lawyer and his family are forbidden and according to police sources, his health is deteriorating given the inhumane conditions of his detention. According to a police source, "Ouattara 's regime has no evidence." against the former representative Mady Bouabre. But he has been held illegally by Ouattara's regime. Indeed, it was Ouattara's zealous Minister of interior Hamed Bakayoko who ordered the arrest and detention of Mady Bouabré, Monday, August 6, whereas the former representative was returning from the  Ivorian-Ghanaian border where he accompanied his wife, Bouabré Ehivet Victoire, younger sister of the former First Lady, Simone Gbagbo. According to eyewitness accounts, on the way back, after leaving his family in Ghanaian territory, Mady Bouabré was recognized by president Ouattara Customs as a former representative of the main oposition party ( FPI). He was arrested and taken to the police station. Once there, he was questioned by the police officer on duty who let him go after realizing Mady Bouabre was not the subject of any arrest warrant issued by Ouattara regime. Continuing his journey back towards Abidjan, the former representative of the Plateau district was again arrested in the town of Assouba by an armed pro-Ouattara militia (FRCI). The pro-Ouattara forces took him back to the Ivorian-Ghanaian border where he came from and alerted Ouattara's zealous minister of interior who ordered that Mady Bouabre be arrested.
Ouattara's regime, in a rare attempt of silencing the opposition, has arrested more oppostion leaders and sympathizers since Mady Bouabre was arrested on August 6, 2012. Opposition newspapers and offices have also been vandalized by Ouattara's armed militia groups drawing criticism from human rights groups and several NGOs operating in IvoryCoast.
Mady Bouabre has been detained for 78 days without being charged; his family has not seen him since he was detained and he is not allowed an attorney visit.

Koenders: "I do not agree with the way Ouattara is leading IvoryCoast"

Koenders: "I do not agree with the way Ouattara is leading IvoryCoast"

UN representative for the UN peace mission in IvoryCoast(UNOCI), Koenders, resolves to understand that there is not yet a "fair trial". "When you want reconciliation, everyone must answer for his actions in court. It should not have double standards. But the problem also is that there is a lack of clarity between justice and réconciliation. I am also against waves of arrests of opposition leaders and sympathizers here and there by president Ouattara government . It is not good that the government always blames the supporters of the former regime , when there are attacks against the government armed militias (FRCI), "denounced the head of UNOCI. "It is not acceptable, that we have prisoners in IvoryCoast because of their political views. But we find that FPI is the largest party of the opposition, which is why we multiply contacts with the party "recognizes Koenders. I totally disagree with the way in which IvoryCoast is run by president Allassane Ouattara.

QUE DISENT MAINTENANT LES EXPERTS ONUSIENS?