Cote D’Ivoire: Violence and Human Rights Abuse Continues

Ex-rebels in northern Cote D’Ivoire have launched three violent riots in the north of the country in the last month, and human rights experts say the incidence of violent crime is also high.

The most recent riots by ex-rebels were in the towns Vavoua and Seguela in the north west on 28 and 29 June. UN Mission in Cote D’Ivoire (ONUCI) spokesperson Hamadoun Toure said on 30 June that calm had been restored through mediation.

The riots, the third in less than a month in northern Cote D’Ivoire, were by ex-rebels supposed to be participating in a disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) programme, who claim they have not received all the money promised to them.

Earlier in June, emergency payments had to be sent to Bouake, the former rebel stronghold in the north, after ex-rebels broke out of a cantonment area and clashed with civilians.

On 27 June, before the latest clashes started, the UN’s head of human rights in Cote D’Ivoire, Simon Munzu, had warned in a press conference that the DDR process must be completed urgently. “Civilians are being beaten, women and small children raped,”he said. “These armed bandits are even attacking funeral processions.”

Munzu said the worst human rights abuses are being committed in the north east of the country where human rights abuses are happening with impunity. “We have received recent reports of rape, female genital mutilation, and early and forced marriages,” he said.

Source: IRIN News – 30 June 2008