Watch and many international media reports from Côte d’Ivoire. Their continuing use, particularly for highly technical positions such as piloting the Mi-24 helicopter gunships, has been reported through April 2003, despite several public statements by President Gbagbo in which he committed to cease using mercenary forces.93 The likely involvement of these mercenaries in several incidents constituting grave breaches of international humanitarian law, including the helicopter attacks on Mahapleu, the Vavoua area, and Zouan-Hounien is a matter of considerable concern and requires further investigation. Recruitment of Liberian fighters by the Ivorian rebel groups “In the beginning when the rebels arrived everyone was happy because the loyalists in Toulepleu were always bothering us. People danced in the streets, we said that the rebels who had come would save the world. Later we saw it wasn’t true. Later, we were not happy. We realized the Liberians were not nice.” Twenty-two-year-old Dioula woman from Bin Houyé94 The MPCI was clearly an Ivorian movement with a domestic agenda, albeit with some support from Burkina Faso. The nature and aims of the two smaller rebel groups, particularly the MPIGO group, are far less straightforward, but it is clear that there were substantial differences between the MPCI and the two smaller groups, not only in terms of their records of abuses against civilians, but also in terms of their aims. The MJP appears to have been mixed Ivorian and Liberian, but largely coalesced around the supporters of Gen. Guei. MPIGO, the least Ivorian of the groups, had a nominal Ivorian leadership but was almost entirely composed of Liberian and Sierra Leonean mercenaries whose main interest in the war was economic. As time passed, the Liberian forces gained ascendancy within the group and challenged the nominal Ivorian leadership, causing serious rifts with the MPCI. There were reportedly at least one thousand Liberian Gio fighters constituting the bulk of MPIGO’s force when it attacked Toulepleu at the end of November 2002,95 a signal that a new and alarming phase of the Ivorian conflict had begun. While both the government and rebel forces later relied on Liberian mercenaries for their military campaigns in the west, all the information available to Human Rights Watch indicates that the Ivorian rebel groups were the first to introduce Liberian fighters into the Ivorian conflict. After being initially repulsed by the loyalist forces, the MPIGO Liberians gained control of Toulepleu by December 2, 2002. Most of the civilian population fled the town. Capturing Toulepleu was significant because the town is in Gueré territory just south of an ethnic line dividing the Ivorian Yacouba and the Gueré. It also lies along the border between the Liberian counties of Nimba and Grand Gedeh, each of which has its version of the Yacouba and Gueré96 ethnic groups: the Gio and Krahn, respectively. According to information gathered by Human Rights Watch, the Liberian Gio forces in Toulepleu initially concentrated on looting everything possible, but were not systematically physically abusive to the civilian armed forces of that Party; (d)is neither a national of a Party to the conflict nor a resident of territory controlled by a Party to the conflict; (e) is not a member of the armed forces of a Party to the conflict; and (f) has not been sent by a State which is not a Party to the conflict on official duty as a member of its armed forces.” Article 47, Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (Protocol I), 8 June 1977. 93 In an ironic turn of events, some of the South African, Angolan and Ukrianian mercenaries were reportedly granted Ivorian nationality within a few hours in order to evade the government’s commitment not to use foreign mercenaries. See Francois Soudan, “Le Choix de Gbagbo,” Jeune Afrique l’Intelligent, February 9-15, 2003, p.13. 94 Interviewed in Guinea in March, 2003, on file with Human Rights Watch. 95 Confidential report on file with Human Rights Watch. 96 The Gueré are part of a larger ethnic group called the Wê, which includes the Gueré, the Wobé, and the Gnaboua, all of whom have traditional ties to the Bété ethnic group. The Gueré “homeland” extends from Toulepleu east to the Sassandra river, north towards Bangolo, and south to Tai. Areas occupied by the Wê people extend further north east of the Gueré area. In this report, the term Gueré is used specifically to refer to the Gueré ethnic group, rather than the Wê people and area. Human Rights Watch 30 August 2003, Vol. 15, No. 14 (A)