Tomme løfter i Elfenbenskysten

Some 30.000 people fled to the Catholic Mission in Duékoué after a massacre in March 2011. Earlier this year most of those still at the Catholic Mission were moved to Nahibly, where 4.500 people are currently sheltering.

“We have not even been counted as part of the population,” said Téhé. “No authority has come to say, ‘The president is coming. Come, explain yourselves, your concerns – what do you need? What do not need? What’s preventing you from returning home?’”

Most displaced families told IRIN they could not return to their homes because they were destroyed, or because their farms were taken over by other groups and are now being guarded by armed guards or “dozos”.

Téhé comes from a village 5 km outside of Duékoué but he has not returned home because his fields were taken over during his absence. “It is because we are Guéré,” he says, referring to his ethnic group, whose members overwhelmingly supported the former president, Laurent Gbagbo.

Much of the long-term inter-community conflict in the west is rooted in issues of land tenure, as members of different ethnic groups claim ownership to the same land.

President Ouattara recognized that the west is still very unstable, with forests “infested with armed persons”, which is “not acceptable”.

Nonetheless, during his visit to the towns of Toulépleu, Bloléquin and Duékoué he repeated calls for the displaced to return home, and called on Ivoirians to leave it to the justice system to punish those who have committed crimes. He stressed that he is the president of all Ivoirians, regardless of ethnicity, religion or region.

Security: “More needs to be done”