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“They looked at his identity card and shot him dead”
Six months of post-electoral violence in Côte d’Ivoire
These killings had political as well as ethnic motives and the Guérés who were able to prove
their support for Alassane Ouattara escaped alive. One official in the local administration had
this to say:
"[On Tuesday 29 March], when they arrived, they shouted out, repeating that they had come
to kill the Guérés. A Guéré woman was stabbed in the back. When she showed a photo of
ADO, a FRCI soldier said: ‘Excuse me’, and spared the life of her brother whom they were
going to execute."
The Amnesty International delegation also collected information showing clearly that the
FRCI and the armed elements fighting alongside them were targeting specifically the Guerés
population. During their stay in Duékoué, the delegation learnt that a house belonging to a
Malian and another house belonging to a Baoulé family were not attacked while their Guéré
neighbours were systematically attacked.
In other cases, the FRCI and armed elements fighting at their side made their victims sing
hymns to the glory of Alassane Ouattara.
One person who was in a group trying to seek refuge at the Catholic Mission, told the
Amnesty International delegation:
"We were arrested on the road, opposite Guémon Bridge. The rebels told us they were going
to kill all the Guérés and that not a single one of them would be left. They told us to stand
apart in a group – the men and boys on the left and the women on the right. They said that
the Guérés were stupid and that it was not surprising they had voted for Laurent Gbagbo.
They told us to sing 'ADO president, ADO solution'."
Many men and young boys were killed off the Guémon bridge and the Amnesty International
delegation learnt that 56 dead bodies were registered at this place. Witnesses told Amnesty
International that the day after this massacre, people belonging to the Malinké ethnic group
plundered the corpses and the homes of the dead.
At least one political official was targeted by the FRCI and the troops fighting alongside them
in Duékoué. These armed elements went to the home of Jean Bouana, director of the
campaign of one of the candidates to the presidential election in November 2010 who
supported Laurent Gbagbo in the run-off. A witness told Amnesty International:
"On Tuesday 29 March, we were at home when the rebels arrived, some of them wearing
grigris [amulets]. We told them that our parents were Lebanese and Guérés. They demanded
money, then left. They returned towards 9am the next day and asked Jean Bouana to get in
their vehicle. We asked for mercy but they took him in the direction of Guiglo. We fled in
order to go to the Catholic Mission. That afternoon, his body was found on the road."
The UNOCI failure to protect civilians
The massacre at Duékoué took place in spite of the presence of a UNOCI base 1 km from the
Quartier Carrefour, the main location of the killings. The first people to find refuge in the
Catholic Mission requested the help of the peacekeeping force but received no assistance.
Amnesty International May 2011
Index: AFR 31/002/2011