Then three gendarmes went into the house across the street ― about ten meters from where I live. A Dioula family lives there. First they broke the door down, then they entered. Then a little while later we heard yelling and a shot. We later learned it was an officer who’d been killed inside the courtyard. Shortly after the shot, the two other gendarmes who’d entered the house went away. Then about fifteen to thirty minutes later, around 14:15, a reinforcement of three vehicles came to pick up the body; including a jeep and an armored car. Then an hour or so later another reinforcement came. They stayed in the neighborhood breaking down peoples�� doors and screaming, ‘you’re all RDR, we’ll kill you all.’ During this time I saw many people beaten, many houses broken into, and lots of tear gas was fired at us. They were the gendarme commandos, with red berets. After numerous interviews with victims and witnesses from Derrière Rail, Human Rights Watch documented the deaths of at least eighteen other men killed in four separate incidents. All the victims were dragged out of their homes or detained while walking home, and then gunned down within the neighborhood. Many of the victims were foreigners. An elderly Malian man, apparently detained because he was wearing a Muslim robe, was one of fourteen men gunned down, but survived. His account was verified by several others living within view of where the killings took place. He recounted the incident of which he claims to be the only survivor:47 On Thursday October 26, at around 2:00 p.m. I left my house to do an errand. On my way I saw the gendarmes were all around. A minute later they saw me and ordered me to come to them. They said there were going to kill me because I’m a Dioula, because I’m a Muslim. I was wearing my bobo [robe] and slippers so they knew I was a Muslim. After hearing that I took off running across the railway line but was unfortunately caught by another gendarme. I begged them to forgive me—I shouldn’t really have to ask forgiveness for anything but I figured my life was more important than my pride. The gendarme who’d caught me told me to lie down on the railway and then the others said, no, I should join another group of prisoners nearby. As I was led to this place I saw there were thirteen prisoners; even though I’m old my mind is sharp and I took time to count. The gendarmes were all around and they kept pointing their guns at us. When I arrived they told me to take off my bobo and lay down on the grass with the others. While lying there the gendarmes asked our nationality, which is how I came to know there was also one Burkinabé and one Mauritanian among us. One of them said, ‘all of you are RDR, all of you are Dioula.’ They beat us for about thirty minutes. They kicked and beat us with the thick iron buckles of their red belts. They were especially tough on the younger men but left me alone because I’m old. We were asking pardon and telling them we were sorry. One gendarme came by and said, “haven’t you killed these people yet?” Then after about thirty minutes of this a light-skinned gendarme said again, ‘what are you waiting for, why haven’t you finished these people yet? All of these people are Alassane’s people.’ And then this one started firing. Maybe others were firing as well. I couldn’t tell. But I was sure about the light-skinned one. It seemed like he fired back and forth for about three to five minutes. I don’t know why I wasn’t hit. Perhaps it was because I was the only elder. But God saved me. Sometime later a truck came to take the bodies but they allowed me to go. I was really in shock. 47 Human Rights Watch interview, Abidjan, November 19, 2000. Human Rights Watch 26 August 2001, Vol. 13, No. 6(A)