While there are unconfirmed reports that some Burkinabé armed and joined the rebel forces, and some may have been responsible for attacks on Gueré civilians, Human Rights Watch research indicates that the vast majority of attacks on civilians were initiated by Gueré militias against Burkinabé civilians. Reaction from the Gueré communities in the villages to the militia youths differed, often by generation and by village. In some villages, Gueré chiefs did little to quell the militancy of their youth, but there were several instances where the local authorities, including village chiefs and sometimes the gendarmes from Duékoué, attempted to intervene, with little effect. In one village, where an older Gueré chief insisted on protecting the Burkinabé, the Gueré youth of the village refused to listen to him.184 In late-October, when the cocoa and coffee crops were ready for harvesting, most of the Burkinabé had been chased out of the surrounding villages and were sheltering in Duékoué. A delegation of Gueré chiefs—all elders—requested the Burkinabé to return. However, as one observer noted, those who requested the return of the Burkinabé “were all old, not a single young one….[and] the youths mocked the elders and said the Burkinabé would not return.”185 While some Burkinabé did return to the villages, many left their wives and children in Duékoué. After the western rebels launched their offensives in the west in December, a number of these villages and others around Toulepleu and Bangolo were captured by the rebels, causing a new wave of displacement, as the Guerés fled the rebels and sought refuge in the government-held towns. This led to new abuses, as members of all three rebel groups retaliated against some of the Gueré members of the self-defense committees who had been responsible for killing and harassing the Burkinabé and other suspected “assailants.” The displacement of the Gueré villagers to Duékoué then widened the cycle of abuses, as Gueré youths began terrorizing the displaced Burkinabé in the government-held towns with total impunity, particularly following rebel attacks on governmentheld locations. Abuses by government forces in collaboration with civilian militias Numerous witnesses described serious abuses committed by Ivorian armed forces working in complicity or in coordination with the Gueré youth groups and with other groups of government-supporting civilians. For instance, in many of the attacks on civilians by paramilitary groups in Daloa, Duékoué, Guiglo, and Monoko-Zohi, local villager from ethnic groups linked to the government helped provide lists of names of foreigners, RDR members, northerners and other alleged rebel supporters to the security forces. Self-defense committees also manned checkpoints with the acquiescence—if not the encouragement—of the state security forces. One person said, “the young Guerés are the worst, they are working with the military. If they see a Burkinabé they recognize, then they beat you and beat you with a brick. Once they say you’re an ‘assailant,’ you’re finished.”186 Attacks on the displaced Burkinabé in Duékoué and other government-controlled towns heightened after each rebel attack. Government forces sometimes executed Burkinabé and other suspected assailants in the middle of the town, in front of many eye-witnesses. Gueré civilian militias sometimes burned their bodies after they were executed. Human Rights Watch documented at least ten such killings, including one incident in Duékoué on December 20, 2002, in which a group of young Gueré participated with the armed forces in the summary executions of two Burkinabé men. I was waiting to cross the street to get home, and they killed two Burkinabé in front of me, on the street. There were young Gueré men going around looking for foreigners, and they captured two young Burkinabé men from houses in Duékoué. The two captured men had scars on the side of their noses, showing they were Mossi.187 They were on the street I was going to cross; so I hid and watched. The young Guerés belonged to the FPI; everyone was FPI in Duékoué. They claimed that foreigners had come to attack president Gbagbo. The Gueré men who held the two Burkinabé called to the military, who 184 Human Rights Watch interview, Duékoué, April 2, 2003. 185 Human Rights Watch interview, Duékoué, April 4, 2003. 186 Human Rights Watch interview, Duékoué, April 2, 2003. 187 The Mossi are one of the largest ethnic groups in Burkina Faso and dominate the Burkinabé community in Côte d’Ivoire. Human Rights Watch 46 August 2003, Vol. 15, No. 14 (A)