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Violations by Pro-Government forces: Ivorian Police, Gendarmes and Army

The majority of incidents between demonstrators and pro-government forces documented by Human Rights Watch involved a lethal overreaction by the security forces, which was disproportionate to the apparent threat to peace and security posed by the demonstrators. On numerous occasions the Ivorian security forces, pro-government militias, and FPI militants responded aggressively by using unnecessary and deadly means to stop the demonstrators from gathering or to disperse them after they had gathered in various locations around Abidjan.

Some of the demonstrators were armed with clubs, machetes, and, in a few instances, fire-arms, and indeed posed a threat to the security forces in isolated cases. However, the majority of demonstrators were unarmed and posed no actual threat to the security forces. Scores of demonstrators were apparently killed by pro-government forces as the demonstrators prepared to gather, attempted to flee to safety after being fired upon by the security forces, and in numerous cases after being detained by members of the security forces. In many instances these pro-government forces harassed, detained, and murdered civilians in the hours leading up to the march, seemingly and exclusively on the basis of their nationality, ethnicity, or religion.

Human Rights Watch found that the majority of witnesses interviewed were able to identify which security force and/or militia group was responsible for the human rights violations they experienced or witnessed.  Human Rights Watch researchers could not, however, confirm the chain of command or dynamics of coordination between the security forces and the members of the militias.  The majority of witnesses and victims interviewed also said they were able to identify the perpetrators based on their uniforms and insignias, and vehicle markings or because they recognized individuals among them. Those groups identified as having taken part in the crackdown included gendarmes; the Ivorian Police, including those from the elite Brigade Anti-Emeute (BAE) and Companie Republican de Securite (CRS); and pro-government militias, including the Groupe Patoiotique pour la Paix (GPP) and FPI militants. Some witnesses could not identify the perpetrators but noted that they wore either full or, in a few cases, partial military attire.

All of the incidents of excessive use of force by the pro-government forces documented by Human Rights Watch occurred in the opposition strongholds of Abobo, Akouedo, Adjamé, Williamsville or Anyama, and involved victims who were Muslims, northerners, and foreigners. Human Rights Watch found that most victims of pro-government perpetrated violence on March 25, the actual day of the demonstrations, were either active participants in the march or had planned to participate.

However, attacks on civilians by pro-government forces occurring the evening before the planned demonstration and reprisal attacks on the two days after seemed much more likely to target men specifically on account of their ethnicity or nationality. For example, officials from the embassy of Burkina Faso told Human Rights Watch that the majority of attacks against and some ten deaths of Burkinabé, occurred on March 26.¹¹ Officials from Mali said that at least ten of their nationals were killed around the time of the planned demonstration.¹² Youssouf Sylla, the Mayor of Adjamé, told Human Rights Watch that on March 26 there were serious reprisal attacks by pro-government forces during which civilians from northern Côte d’Ivoire and foreigners from Burkina Faso, Mali, and Nigeria were specifically targeted.¹³

One incident, on March 24, involved men in civilian dress who broke into a house in Abobo, detained several Muslims originally from northern Côte d’Ivoire and subsequently brought them to a police station in the Plateau neighborhood:    

At around 11:00 p.m. on March 24, several people dressed in civilian clothes came beating on my door and eventually broke it down. They threatened to kill anyone who took part in the demonstration the next day. I hid with five others from my neighborhood. As this was happening, I saw one of my neighbors try to run. He was shot and died some hours later. They eventually found the rest of us five and put us in a truck. Along the way, we stopped at a taxi station and there they shot my little brother, who died on the spot. By around 2:00 a.m., the four of us were brought to a police station in the Plateau neighborhood. There my nephew was beaten severely in his side. We were detained until the following Thursday [one week] until they let us go.¹⁴

Another incident in which civilians were detained on the evening of March 24, occurred in Akouedo. The witness, a Christian from western Côte d’Ivoire, described seeing men in full military dress round up sixteen men who he believed were northerners and foreigners, and take them away. The witness subsequently moved from the area and has received no further information about the fate of the men:

Around 6:00 p.m. I was hanging out at my house with some friends. I saw one big military truck arrive. It was driven by military men in uniforms with red berets. I saw there were fifteen civilians inside. I recognized three of them; two were from Burkina Faso and the other was a Malian. Three military came out of the truck and asked many of us for identification. From the group I was with, they took a young Togolese man and then left. A friend of mine recognized another two of those who had been taken and said they were northerners.

Several witnesses described how policemen and gendarmes fired upon demonstrators as they attempted to flee to safety, and in several cases executed them after having detained them. A demonstrator from Anyama described seeing gendarmes execute two young men detained by them minutes earlier:

Between 9:00 and 10:00 am I went to meet friends to prepare for the march. There were about 300 youths and about twenty gendarmes at the barricade, all of whom were wearing red berets.  At this time the military, gendarmes, and police (BAE) were arriving in tanks, and helicopters and planes were coming from Anyama toward Abobo. We saw three helicopters and two jets. I could see they were piloted by whites. The ones in tanks started firing first. We all ran, and the gendarmes trapped three of us. They killed the other two in a roadside ditch by shooting them with Kalashs [AK-47 assault rifles]. I started praying, and the gendarmes said they were going to kill me too. I ran, and they tried to fire at me three times but the guns didn’t work. One gendarme caught me, and beat me until I lost consciousness. He later left me there.”¹⁵

A resident of Abobo recounted how police in armored cars fired an explosive round at a group of marchers, killing one. It is not clear what class of ammunition was involved:

Around 8:00 a.m. I saw tanks going to Anyama. At about 8:30 am I saw three trucks with military personnel wearing military uniforms going to Anyama. After this, gendarmes in red berets passed by us and shot gas into the demonstrators. The military and gendarmes were mixed in the cargo trucks and on the ground. At 9:00 a.m., a tank launched an explosive at the Depot 9 intersection, then another. There were two tanks, both armed by gendarmes. I saw the second explosive hit a marcher in the side, and his intestines were hanging out.¹⁶

A marcher from the Williamsville section of Adjamé described how three friends attempting to flee to safety were pursued and later shot to death by members of an elite police unit: 

By 8:30 a.m., I saw a tank coming and police firing from it. The police were BAE. Another tank with eight officers followed from the same direction. Once the officers from the tank started firing, other police in hiding came out. I recognized some of the policemen from my neighborhood. I saw marchers who were armed with guns, but they were just posing to create the image of an armed rebellion. The police chased us, and caught four of my group, while the three others followed me. The chief of the police told us to stop and when we didn’t they fired and killed two. Then the two of us remaining encountered another group of police in front of us we were surrounded. My remaining friend took a bullet in the side, fell down, and was then hit by another bullet in the head. I saw the bullet hole in the back of his head.

Then the police hit me in the arm with a Kalashnikov and in the back with pieces of wood over 30 times. They put the barrel of a Kalashnikov in my ear, but the gun did not work when they pulled the trigger. They called me a rebel devil who couldn’t die, so they brought bricks and beat me in the legs and head. I was bleeding profusely at this time and the police told me to say my last prayer. I heard one of them speaking English- he was wearing a tan uniform like all of the other policemen on the tanks. I took off all of my clothes on their command, and they took all of my money. When they saw my identification and knew I was from the north by my name, the police said they were going to kill us all. Luckily, a new chief came and told the others, “leave him, let’s go.”¹⁷