Volden trappes op i Elfenbenskysten. Amnesty International har fået rapporter om “forsvindinger” og fysiske overgreb.
LONDON, 21 December 2010: Eyewitnesses have told Amnesty International that abductions, disappearances and physical abuse are increasing as post-election violence escalates in Côte d’Ivoire.
Amnesty International has received a growing number of reports of people being arrested or abducted at home or on the streets, often by unidentified armed attackers accompanied by elements of the Defence and Security Forces and militia groups.
Gendarmes and police officials are accused of attacking a mosque in Grand-Bassam, using live ammunition on crowds and of beating and groping female protesters.
“It is clear that more and more people are being illegally detained by security forces or armed militiamen and we fear that many of them may have been killed or have disappeared,” said Salvatore Saguès, Amnesty International’s West Africa researcher.
Amnesty International has received reports of constant harassment from people in Abidjan identified as real or alleged supporters of the RHDP [Rally of Houphouëtists for Democracy and Peace], the coalition party that supported Alassane Ouattara in the presidential election.
Many residents living in the neighborhoods of Abobo, Adjame, Treichville and Yopougon told Amnesty International that rather than sleeping at night, they instead kept watch and alerted neighbours by banging saucepans whenever they saw armed people in uniform or plainclothes.
Amnesty International has learned of numerous cases of people arrested by security forces or militiamen loyal to Laurent Gbagbo. The bodies of some have been found either in morgues or on the streets. The whereabouts of many others remain unknown.
On 19 December, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, said that more than 50 people had been killed in the past three days with more than 200 wounded.
“In a situation where the security forces are collaborating in the commission of serious human rights violations, the international community must act to ensure that violations are halted immediately,” said Salvatore Saguès.
