good does that do? We need security. The government kills us because we know the rebels, [the rebels] accuse us of supporting the government and the HCR abandons us, so it’s worthless.”127 Given this background, it is hardly surprising that by late-March 2003, humanitarian agencies estimated that up to half of the Nicla camp population, including children as young as fourteen, were “involved directly or indirectly in the LIMA forces….” According to information received by Human Rights Watch, “recruitment is…induced by the government forces who have visited Nicla and held meetings with the youth to encourage them to join the LIMA forces ‘for their own security’.”128 VIII. ABUSES OF CIVILIANS BY LIBERIAN FORCES IN THE WEST As mentioned above, Liberian fighters and other irregular forces employed by the government and the MPIGO and MJP rebel forces were responsible for a wide range of acts which violated international humanitarian law in western Côte d’Ivoire, particularly in the triangular area of operation between Danané, Toulepleu and Guiglo. These abuses included killings, rape and other forms of sexual violence, forced labor, systematic looting of civilian property, recruitment of child soldiers, attacks on humanitarian workers, destruction and removal of foodstuffs, and contamination of drinking water sources, a catalogue that echoes the abuses next door in Liberia. Looting: the initial incentive As soon as Liberian forces arrived in the west a pattern developed. Initially they began by systematically looting the property of those who had fled the area and sending much of the loot back to Liberia. When that resource had been exhausted, they moved on to the remaining civilian population. Then, when all available loot began to diminish, they used physical violence to threaten those who still had or were suspected of having remaining assets. A resident of Zouan-Hounien told Human Rights Watch, “The rebels came November 28. At the beginning they left people alone…. Then the Liberians came, and for the population things really worsened…. The population had to deal with the looting. First they started with the houses of those who had fled, the government officials, then they started attacking Guerés, then foreigners, and now even the Yacouba. For them, whether you’re Christian, Muslim or a cow, they’ll kill you.”129 This pattern of stages of increasing abuses was echoed in scores of accounts gathered by Human Rights Watch. The incentive to loot was such that Liberian fighters within the same units even killed each other over particular items. Liberian fighters on both sides also extorted huge sums from desperate civilians trying to flee the conflict zone. Civilians trying to leave Toulepleu in late-January were forced to pay the government-backed Liberian forces between 95,000 and 200,000 CFA.130 Human Rights Watch was told that a similar pattern developed in other areas of the west, for instance in the rebel-controlled area around Zouan-Hounien and Danané, where the Liberians forced civilians to pay 25,000 CFA or more to leave.131 People who refused to pay were trapped. If civilians refused to give money, or if the fighters discovered money after the person denied having any, there were often violent consequences. Abuses linked to resources: forced labor The promise of Ivorian riches was perhaps the main attraction for many coming from Liberia, where a devastated country and civilian population had already been stripped of most resources. Ivorian resources in the west were not limited to goods such as money, food, vehicles and other personal property, however, although the Liberians sent hundreds of tons of these items across the border. The west also held two key assets that were attractive to the Liberians: cocoa and gold. 127 Interview in Guinea, February 2003, on file with Human Rights Watch. 128 Confidential document on file with Human Rights Watch. 129 Human Rights Watch interview, Abidjan, March 24, 2003. 130 Human Rights Watch interviews in Guinea, March 1, 2003, and Guiglo, April 4, 2003. 131 Human Rights Watch interview, Nyangoloko, February 7, 2003. Human Rights Watch 35 August 2003, Vol. 15, No. 14 (A)