IRIN
Dakar — People from ethnic groups seen as pro-Laurent Gbagbo are hiding out, using aliases in public and fearing for their lives, amid attacks by government forces in the main city Abidjan, residents told IRIN.
“It is total and constant insecurity for people from ethnic groups seen as pro-Gbagbo,” said a young man calling himself Toupé.
People from allegedly targeted ethnic groups have started using nicknames, “so when we address one another in public we cannot be identified”, explained another youth known as Pascal Soro.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) in a 2 June report says forces of President Alassane Ouattara’s government have killed scores of real or perceived backers of Gbagbo since the former president was arrested in April.
“The actions President Ouattara takes or fails to take in the coming weeks will define how seriously he takes this cycle of violence,” Corinne Dufka, HRW senior West Africa researcher, told IRIN.
Residents of the Yopougon District, from where the government army Forces Républicaines de Côte d’Ivoire (FRCI) recently chased Gbagbo militia, told IRIN people from many ethnic groups – particularly Bété and Guéré – are not safe.
“We thought when FRCI came and forced the militia out, there would be security – it has been exactly the opposite,” Toupé said.