Highlights

- UNOCI peacekeepers and Guinean military agree to meet monthly to exchange information
- Forces Nouvelles claim FPI official collected 298 substitute birth certificates in Bako area

Security

A border security coordination conference held yesterday between UNOCI peacekeepers and Guinean Military authority in Gopoupleu (north east) has agreed to hold monthly meetings between the two sides to exchange information.

Students demonstrating over the non payment of their grants this morning blocked the main road in Korhogo, which leads to Bouaké. According to NIGERBATT, soldiers from the Armed Forces of the Forces Nouvelles were trying to control the situation.

Some 200 members of a militia group called Scorpion Guetteurs in Yamoussoukro, on 6 August 2008, gathered outside the home of a local Member of Parliament to protest against the non payment of allowances, which they say they are owed by the Government, since 2005. They claim that in 2004 when they joined the Ivorian armed forces to fight against Forces Nouvelles rebels on the front line, they were promised a payment of 180,000 FCFA each, but have only so far received half of the amount. According to the group's spokesman, the Chief of Staff of the Defence and Security Forces of Cote d'Ivoire, General Philippe Mangou will meet with them on 9 August 2008 to discuss the issue.

Members of a youth group called the Mouvement des jeunes pour la renaissance de Bondoukou (MOREB), on 6 August 2008, held a demonstration to protest against the detention of one of their colleagues who was arrested during an earlier demonstration in July 2008. According to MOREB, the police authorities later released the detainee, who was then presented to a cheering crowd. However MOREB has vowed to continue with its street protests against the exploitation of their forest resources, which they say does not benefit the population, as the timber is treated elsewhere. The youths also complained that the ONUCI FM reporter in Bondoukou is biased in his reporting of issues affecting the local population.

Electoral

The Controller General of the Forces Nouvelles in Odienné, on 6 August 2008, reported to the Regional Human Rights Office in the city, that 298 substitute birth certificates issued to applicants in Bako sous prefecture, 45 km south of Odienné (north), during the Mobile Court hearings, had been collected by the representative of the Front Populaire Ivorien (FPI) in the sous-prefecture, allegedly on the orders of the FPI Political Commissioner for Odienné. The Office met with the Secretary General of the Préfecture to discuss various actions that could be taken to ensure that the people whose documents were taken, would still be able to take part in the identification operation.

Arms embargo

UNOCI peacekeepers, on 6 August 2008, successfully carried out arms embargo inspections at the Defence and Security Forces of Cote d'Ivoire's (FDSCI) Marine Detachment in Adiake, Abidjan, at the National Armed Forces of Cote d'Ivoire (FANCI) units in Yamoussoukro Airport, its Gendarmerie Brigades in Bondoukou, Sassandra, Diegonefla and Daloa, and at its Sous Groupement in Abengourou. Meanwhile similar inspections were carried out on the same day at the Armed Forces of the Forces Nouvelles' (FAFN) Gendarmerie Brigade in Danané and at its 72nd Battalion in Biankouma.

Human Rights

The Human Rights Office in Korhogo is investigating allegations of physical assault against seven people in Ouangolodougou (north) by the local police. According to a report from one of the alleged victims, the assault took place on 12 July 2008. The alleged victim said that after helping to evacuate the wounded during inter-community clashes in Détikaha, 39 km north of Ferkessedougou (north), on the same day, he was asked to report to the police station, where a group of policemen demanded his car keys. He said that when he asked them why they wanted his car keys, two policemen brutally assaulted him. However the commander of the local police, insisted that the so-called victim was in fact one of those identified as having brought young thugs into Détikaha, on 12 July 2008, to create havoc in the village, which result in four deaths. The police commander claimed that the alleged victim had been injured during the clashes at Détikaha and that he was not assaulted by policemen. He also claimed that the alleged victim and others had been paid by a local businessman, who had been fostering tension between communities in the Ouangolodougou Sous-préfecture for sometime. It should be recalled, that violent clashes had erupted between the host and the Mossi communities, originally from Burkina Faso, over land ownership in Détikaha on 12 July 2008.

On 6 August 2008, the Regional Human Rights Office in Abidjan participated in a seminar organized by 20 national and international NGOs on gender-based sexual violence. The Office made presentations on topics ranging from assistance to victims, techniques to fight impunity and best practices in eradicating the phenomena in the post-conflict period.