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Violations by Pro-Government Forces:  Militias and FPI Militants 

Numerous witnesses and victims confirmed that during the events of March 24-26, pro-government militias and pro-FPI militants perpetrated serious violations against unarmed civilians, including murder. The militiamen, most of whom appeared to be affiliated with the Groupement de Patriotes pour la paix (GPP) were usually armed and appeared to be working alongside Ivorian police and gendarmes. While witnesses were unable to ascertain if there was overt collaboration or coordination between the security forces and militias, nor establish the chain of command, members of the security forces on several occasions stood by while the militias committed serious violations. FPI militants also committed serious abuses although their relationship with the security forces seemed more tenuous.  Police officers interviewed by Human Rights Watch denied working together with the militia groups, and further stated that they didn’t know who they who they were nor who dispatched them into their operational area.¹⁸

On April 1, 2004, Martin Bléou, Minister of Internal Security indicated that some atrocities during March 2004 were committed by armed individuals, or “parallel forces”¹⁹ working outside the command of the security forces, that is, with no established connection to a state or governmental institution. However, witnesses interviewed by Human Rights Watch suggest that the individuals he described were likely security personnel in civilian dress or members of one of several militia groups who often appeared to be working side by side with the security forces. Existing tensions between police, gendarme, and army officers based on seniority and ethnicity might have contributed to insubordination and indiscipline within the security forces. Human Rights Watch is concerned that the government’s attempt to label perpetrators of human rights violations as ‘parallel forces’ may diminish their intent to take responsibility for the practices of the militias they allegedly support, or address existing problems of insubordination and indiscipline within the security forces.²⁰

A local human rights activist described how on March 25, he saw armed GPP militiamen operating jointly with Ivorian gendarmes in Adjame. At least three demonstrators and one GPP militiamen were killed in the incident he described:

Around 9:30 a.m. I saw gendarmes (identified by uniform and insignia on sleeves) leaving the gendarmerie of Agban to go to the Latin quarter (approximately 200-300 meters from the gendarmerie). There were armed civilians with them wearing t-shirts with “GPP” on the left breast and in big letters on the back. I saw both the gendarmes and the GPP firing into the demonstrators. There were around 30 gendarmes, 50 GPP, and 200 demonstrators. The gendarmes fired first, and I saw three marchers fall to the ground. I later saw that they had died. I saw three demonstrators who had guns. I also saw one GPP fall; he was left, dead, where he fell and was later killed and mutilated by the crowd. ²¹

GPP members carrying pistols and semi-automatic weapons were also present in Abobo:

I marched in the demonstration in Abobo on March 25 and by the time I arrived at the 14 Commissariat stations, the policemen started firing gas into the air and I ran to go home. I then saw approximately 30 people in black t-shirts with “GPP” in white letters. They were hidden in groups of four or five in several different areas. I saw that they were armed with pistols and Kalashnikovs, which I saw them firing. Although I did not directly see anyone killed by them.”²²

Another witnesses described what appeared to be a joint operation involving gendarmes, police, and GPP militiamen in Williamsville: 

On March 25, between 6:00-7:00 a.m. we went toward the local police headquarters. We were around 100 strong. Around 7:30-8:00 a.m., the CRS police (identified by vehicles, and wearing blue helmets) tear-gassed the marchers near the outskirts of Williamsville. We tried as a group to escape but encountered gendarmes from the Agban gendarmerie and found ourselves caught between the two groups. We ran to a bridge between where we encountered the police of the 27 Commissariat above on the bridge and another group of the same below. The CRS and Agban gendarmes were still chasing us too.

As we crossed the bridge we encountered 7 or 8 men from the GPP – they had “GPP” in white letters on their black t-shirts. There were also police in blue helmets below the bridge near the Pharmacie du Latin, and they fired gas again. Our group ran but three fell and the police came and kicked them, and they also beat an elder dressed in a boubou (traditional African garment). We encountered a large group of GPP who had slingshots with big stones. The marchers picked up stones and started throwing back. One of the marchers hit a GPP militant on the head, causing him to fall, and then the GPP got up and ran away. After this, we cancelled our plans.  Crossing the bridge, the police surrounded us again and gassed us and the Agban gendarmes fired bullets at us, but nobody was killed.²³

A witness from Anyama saw FPI militants armed with machetes, clubs and bricks murder three civilians. Different from the GPP militiamen, the FPI militants appeared to be trying to hide from the security forces:

From where I hid I saw several FPI militants with machetes and pieces of wood. I knew that they were FPI militants because they were wearing Gbagbo t-shirts. Others had “FPI” on their t-shirts and wore red hats. I heard them threatening the marchers saying that they would get what they deserve. I saw them kill two people with bricks. These two had both been wounded – I think they’d been earlier shot by the gendarmes -- and were trying to return to their houses.  They were finished off by the FPI militants. While hiding behind a wall, I heard the FPI militants ask for their identity cards at a barricade. They said that if they were northerners they were going to kill them. The FPI militants would not come out with their machetes when the security forces were present, but when the forces left they would come back out. It seemed they were afraid of the authorities, so they were not operating together.

Later that day I saw three people dead on the road. I also saw a man named Sanogo Ibrahim taken by FPI militants near the forest, and he was reported dead two hours later. I saw yet another person who I did not know killed by FPI militants with machetes.²⁴