52
“They looked at his identity card and shot him dead”
Six months of post-electoral violence in Côte d’Ivoire
killings committed in October 2010 in Touba49, as well as in other areas in the west of the
country. The delegation noted that President Ouattara had integrated the FAFN into the new
FRCI on 8 March 2011 and it was therefore his duty to send a clear signal to all forces under
his control indicating that any person responsible for human rights violations or abuses would
be immediately relieved of their duties and brought to justice.
President Ouattara and his Minister of Justice replied that the fight against impunity was at
the heart of their concerns and that they were going to open an investigation into all
allegations of human rights violations and abuses committed since the beginning of the postelectoral crisis.
On their return from the west of the country, the Amnesty International delegation met the
director of the Minister of Justice's cabinet on 19 April 2011, and informed him of the
massive and systematic human rights violations and abuses committed by the FRCI and
troops fighting alongside them in the Duékoué region against a specific ethnic group, the
Guéré, presumed to be Laurent Gbagbo supporters. The director of cabinet replied that an
investigation to establish the facts had already been opened. To date, Amnesty International
received no information on the findings of this investigation.
The Amnesty International delegation also raised concerns about the circumstances of the
death of Désiré Tagro, Laurent Gbgabo’s former minister of Interior, wounded at the time of
his arrest at the presidential residence on 11 April 2011 and who died a few hours later as a
result of his wounds. The director of cabinet told Amnesty International that an inquiry has
been opened into this death. To date, Amnesty International received no information on the
findings of this investigation.
The delegation also pressed for authorization to meet Laurent Gbagbo, his wife and those
close to him who had been arrested at the president's residence. The director of cabinet
replied that these people had not been detained in accordance with a judicial process but
had simply been "retained" under the article 7 of the Law No 63-4 adopted on 17 January
1963 that provides for house arrest of “Anyone whose action is prejudicial to the economic or
social promotion of the nation can be assigned to house arrest by decree”.50The delegation
was told that they could not meet Laurent Gbagbo and his close supporters on “grounds of
security”.
6.3. MEETING WITH UNOCI OFFICIALS
The Amnesty International delegation also met six high level UNOCI officials including the
Deputy of the Secretary-General's Special Representative (SRSG) for Côte d'Ivoire, the Chief
of Staff of the SRSG and the Deputy Director of the UNOCI military forces at their
Headquarters in Abidjan on 19 April 2011. The delegates raised several concerns including:
Amnesty International May 2011
Index: AFR 31/002/2011