18
“They looked at his identity card and shot him dead”
Six months of post-electoral violence in Côte d’Ivoire
nationality. An eyewitness told Amnesty International:
"This Monday [28 February 2011], a man nicknamed the Guinean14 was pushing his
wheelbarrow in front of the Siporex chemist, in the Yopougon district, when he was stopped
by a CRS patrol vehicle. The occupants of the vehicle said to him: 'You have voted for
Ouattara and you have a job'. They told him to lie down in the gutter and then shot him. After
the CRS had left, we lifted him out of the gutter, laid him down on the tarmac and covered
his body with a sheet."
The security forces also killed supporters of Alassane Ouattara and his political ally, Henri
Konan Bédié15, during two attacks against the offices of their respective political parties.
At least four people were killed by gendarmes on 1 December 2010, during an attack on the
office of Alassane Ouattara's party, the RDR, in Wassakara (in the district of Yopougon). An
eyewitness told Amnesty International:
"It was around 10 pm, we were watching TV, some of us were drinking tea when we heard
knocking on the door. We did not open because of the curfew and we were told: ‘Open the
door or we'll climb the walls and kill you all.’ Then we saw gendarmes in uniform and people
in plainclothes that climbed the walls and began to shoot at us. Some of the gendarmes were
wearing red caps, others were hooded”.
Another eyewitness said: "When I saw the gendarmes, I went to the toilet to hide. They broke
the door and asked me to raise my hands and lie on the floor. When I was on the floor, they
shot me and hit me in the leg. They left me for dead."
On 4 January 2011, security forces loyal to Laurent Gbagbo attacked at 5am in Abidjan the
offices of the PDCI, the party of the former president, Henri Konan Bédié, and killed one of
its supporters.
A witness told an Amnesty International delegation that police officers and gendarmes fired
live ammunition at people inside the building and beat up several militants.
"On Tuesday morning, 4 January, around 5am, some of us were praying, others were on guard
and others were sleeping when several cargos [army or police vehicles] pulled up outside the
party offices. Police officers banged on the door and said they wanted to search the office
because arms had been hidden there. We told them that it was not legal to conduct searches
at such an hour. An agitated discussion took place until finally a wise member [un sage] of
our party convinced us it was best to let them in. We accompanied the police officers during
a search, they found nothing. Then they began to fire tear gas and live ammunition. Some
people were able to hide. Sidibé Karim, nicknamed Krimo, fell in front of me."
The security forces also fired at several women who were demonstrating peacefully in the
Abobo district of Abidjan on 3 March 2011 and calling for Laurent Gbagbo to step down. An
eyewitness told Amnesty International:
"The women were singing and dancing while chanting the name of Alassane Ouattara when,
around 10am, the atmosphere suddenly changed. Military vehicles, including a tank, arrived.
Amnesty International May 2011
Index: AFR 31/002/2011