I.Coast leader giving 'green
light' to attacks: Amnesty

LONDON, May 25, 2011 (AFP) -
Human rights group Amnesty International on Wednesday accused Ivory Coast
President Alassane Ouattara of turning a blind eye to deadly attacks against
supporters of former leader Laurent Gbagbo.

According to a report released
by the London-based group, reprisal atrocities are still being committed against
Gbagbo's backers, six weeks after Ouattara gained power with the promise of
reconciliation following a bloody conflict.

"Human rights violations are
still being committed against real or perceived supporters of Laurent Gbagbo
both in Abidjan and in the west of the country," said Gaetan Mootoo, Amnesty
International's west Africa researcher.

"Alassane Ouattara's failure
to condemn these acts could be seen as a green light by many of his security
forces and other armed elements fighting with them to continue," he argued.

"Alassane Ouattara must
publicly state that all violence against the civilian population must stop
immediately," demanded Mootoo.

Ouattara took the oath of
office on May 6, nearly a month after bitter political rival Gbagbo was captured
after having refused to cede power following a presidential election in
November.

A months-long battle pitted
Ouattara against Gbagbo, who refused to leave office after his rival was
declared the winner of the poll.

Nearly 3,000 people died in
the violence, according to the new government, and tens of thousands sought
refuge into neighbouring countries.

Gbagbo was captured in an
underground bunker in Abidjan on April 11 by forces loyal to Ouattara, backed by
France and the United Nations.

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War crimes on both sides of
Ivorian conflict -Amnesty

* Both sides responsible for
war crimes in Ivorian conflict

* Amnesty also says U.N.
failed to protect civilians

ABIDJAN, May 25 (Reuters) -
Ivorian forces loyal to both former president Laurent Gbagbo and current
president Alassane Ouattara committed war crimes during a violent standoff over
a disputed poll, Amnesty International said on Wednesday.

An investigation by the rights
group details testimony from witnesses and victims of the violence perpetrated
in the months following the disputed Nov. 28 election, which plunged the West
African nation back into civil war when Gbagbo refused to step down, despite
U.N.-certified results showing he lost.

It also criticises the U.N.
peacekeeping force for what it says was a ``failure to protect civilians''
from armed groups.

The poll was meant to seal
peace after years of crisis since the last civil war in 2002-3 split the country
in two. Instead it sparked a deadly conflict.

``Hundreds of people have been
unlawfully killed, often only on the grounds of their ethnicity and presumed
political affiliation. Women and adolescents have been victims of sexual
violence, including rape, and hundreds of thousands of people were forced to
flee their homes,'' Amnesty said.

The crisis eased when Gbagbo
was captured on April 11 by pro-Ouattara forces backed by the French military.

The report entitled ``'They
looked at his identity card and shot him dead': Six months of post electoral
violence in Cote D'Ivoire'' details pages of eyewitnesses testimony of abuses.

Many of the abuses were by
Gbagbo's security forces and allied militias as they tried to maintain his grip
on power by crushing dissent.

But troops professing
allegiance to Ouattara also committed abuses, including summary executions,
burning villages and a massacre of civilians in the town of Duekoue, Amnesty
said.

``The conclusions in this
report clearly show that all parties to the conflict have committed crimes under
international law, including war crimes and crimes against humanity,'' the
report said.

TRUTH, JUSTICE, RECONCILIATION

Many of the testimonies
suggest a strongly tribal flavour to the violence, with security forces and
pro-Gbagbo militias checking ID cards before killing members of Ouattara's
Dioula tribe, and pro-Ouattara forces destroying villages belonging to tribes
seen as pro-Gbagbo and killing their inhabitants.

In the massacre at Duekoue by
pro-Ouattara forces in April, in which hundreds are thought to have died, the
report criticises U.N. peacekeepers for failing to intervene.

``The massacre at Duekoue took
place in spite of the presence of a UNOCI base 1 km from ... 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,'' it said.

Ouattara has asked the
International Criminal Court to probe allegations of serious crimes during the
crisis, a request which may help shine light on abuses by both sides during a
conflict that killed thousands and displaced more than a million.

He also wants a separate
domestic trial for Gbagbo, currently imprisoned in the north, and his close
associates.

But such an aim may fit badly
with his pledge for a South Africa-style truth and reconciliation commission to
help a divided nation come to terms with some of the worst violence in its
recent history.

``No reconciliation will be
possible in Cote d'Ivoire unless justice and reparation is provided to all the
victims of the terrible massacres and other human rights violations,'' the
Amnesty report said.

 

 

Rights group: journalists
targeted in Ivory Coast

Source: AP Online Regional –

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast -- A
media advocacy group said Tuesday that forces loyal to Ivory Coast's new
president harass and abuse journalists and may be responsible for the death of a
reporter.

The Committee to Protect
Journalists called on Alassane Ouattara's new government to investigate the
death of reporter Lago Sylvain Gagneto, whose family says he was targeted
because he was from the same ethnic group as former president Laurent Gbagbo.
Local journalists say Gagneto's bullet-ridden body was found over the weekend.

Local journalists also say
Ouattara's forces also ransacked and burned down the community radio station
where Gagneto worked.

"The abuse of journalists has
been continuing unabated," said Mohammed Keita, CPJ's Africa Advocacy
Coordinator.

He added: "President Ouattara
pledged to hold to account all those under his authority responsible for abuses.
He must act immediately to rein in his forces and uphold the rule of law."

A police official contacted by
the CPJ refused comment. He said he was unaware of the incident and needed time
to make inquiries.

Ouattara was inaugurated
Saturday after a monthslong power struggle for the presidency sparked by
Gbagbo's refusal to cede power after he lost a November election. Gbagbo was
arrested by pro-Ouattara fighters last month, following a U.N. and French
helicopter bombardment of key military sites around the presidential palace.

Before Gbagbo's arrest, rights
groups had condemned the targeting of pro-Ouattara journalists and reporters
working for the local U.N. radio station. Many of them reported receiving death
threats and receiving nocturnal visits by armed men.

Two reporters working for a
pro-Ouattara television station were arrested and held without charge before
being freed when the jail doors were broken open during Ouattara's ground
assault.