Attacks on government officials and government supporters ..............................................................................25 Targeting of FPI members................................................................................................................................26 Torture and mutilation of gendarmes and other government officials .............................................................27 Summary executions in and around Man: December 2002..............................................................................27 Sexual violence.....................................................................................................................................................28 VII. THE ROLE OF LIBERIAN FORCES IN THE WEST...................................................................................29 Use of foreign mercenaries by the Ivorian government .......................................................................................29 Recruitment of Liberian fighters by the Ivorian rebel groups ..............................................................................30 Recruitment of government-backed Liberian rebel fighters.................................................................................32 Recruitment of Liberian refugees by government forces .....................................................................................33 VIII. ABUSES OF CIVILIANS BY LIBERIAN FORCES IN THE WEST..........................................................35 Looting: the initial incentive ................................................................................................................................35 Abuses linked to resources: forced labor..............................................................................................................35 Sexual violence by Liberian fighters on both sides..............................................................................................36 Recruitment of child soldiers by both sides..........................................................................................................36 Killings of civilians ..............................................................................................................................................37 The road to Toulepleu: creating a humanitarian crisis .....................................................................................38 Ravaging the villages around Toulepleu: February 2003.................................................................................39 Abuses evolve into ethnic conflict........................................................................................................................39 The massacre at Bangolo: March 7, 2003 ........................................................................................................40 The massacre at Dah: March 22, 2003 .............................................................................................................41 IX. THE ROLE OF CIVILIAN MILITIAS IN THE WEST...................................................................................41 The rise of youth groups and civilian militias ......................................................................................................41 Urban and rural violence in the west before the war ............................................................................................42 Political violence in Daloa town in the election campaign: June 2002 ............................................................43 Village violence in June 2002: the targeting of the Burkinabé.........................................................................43 State-tolerated violence by civilian self-defense committees...............................................................................44 Abuses by government forces in collaboration with civilian militias ..................................................................46 Mob violence in total impunity in Duékoué: March-April 2003......................................................................47 Reprisal killings of self-defense committee members..........................................................................................47 X. LEGAL OBLIGATIONS AND LOCAL RESPONSES TO ABUSES AGAINST CIVILIANS .......................48 Côte d’Ivoire’s legal obligations ..........................................................................................................................48 The response of the government of Côte d’Ivoire................................................................................................49 The response of the rebel groups..........................................................................................................................50 The French response.............................................................................................................................................51 XI. THE REGIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE..............................................................................52 Côte d’Ivoire’s neighbors: Liberia, Burkina Faso and Guinea.............................................................................52 The regional actors: ECOWAS ............................................................................................................................53 The United Nations...............................................................................................................................................53 Security Council ...............................................................................................................................................53 Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) .....................................................................53 XII. METHODOLOGY ..........................................................................................................................................54 XIII. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS............................................................................................................................54 Human Rights Watch August 2003, Vol. 15, No. 14 (A)