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The Ivorian Government Position

The National Police Chief for Abobo, where the vast majority of fatalities occurred, told Human Rights Watch that he and other security chiefs had been given conventional means of crowd control including tear gas canisters, anti-riot shields, and helmets, and had clearly instructed their troops to use restraint and fire only when fired upon. However, he maintained that many of the demonstrators were armed and ‘sought a confrontation.’ He said the security forces had fired into the crowds only after being fired upon by the demonstrators, including by those who had taken the guns of the two policemen killed by demonstrators.⁷ Martin Bleou, the minister of internal security, told Human Rights Watch that the police had received information that infiltrators from areas controlled by the New Forces had for several days prior to the march been ‘infiltrating into Abidjan to foment armed uprising and overthrow the regime,’ and that on several occasions on March 25, the security forces had in fact been fired upon.⁸

A few foreign police experts and diplomats based in Abidjan told Human Rights Watch that while concerned about the wanton disregard for human life displayed by the Ivorian security forces in numerous incidents on March 24-26, 2004, some instances of excessive use of force and the ensuing casualties might have resulted from several other factors. These included lack of experience in riot and crowd control by the Ivorian security sector; the understaffing of some police and gendarme units which subsequently panicked when faced with large concentrations of demonstrators; that insubordination by more militant junior ranking officers resulted in the undisciplined and excessive use of force and that there were elements of “agents provocateurs” from the opposition and/or New Forces who fired at the security forces.⁹  One foreign military analyst suggested that the New Forces maintain numerous armed cells that function clandestinely within the opposition strongholds of Abidjan.¹⁰