Security forces loyal to Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo are reported to be abducting and “disappearing” his rival’s supporters, Human Rights Watch revealed several days ago.
Alassane Ouattara, Gbagbo’s rival, is widely believed to have won November’s disputed presidential election in Côte d’Ivoire but just like Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, Gbagbo has refused to step down.
In chilling similarities, security forces loyal to Mugabe launched Operation Mavhotera Papi (Where Did You Vote) soon after the Zanu PF leader suffered an embarrassing loss to Morgan Tsvangirai in the March 2008 Presidential election.
Over 500 opposition supporters were killed in a campaign of retribution led by the Joint Operations Command (JOC), a grouping of all state security organs (police, army, CIO and prisons). Tsvangirai withdrew from a run-off engineered by a pro-Mugabe election body that sat on and manipulated results for close to 5 weeks before finally claiming Tsvangirai did not win by an outright majority.
In Ivory Coast a combination of pro-Gbagbo security forces and unofficial militia have conducted nightly raids since December 16, 2010, dragging people away in official vehicles and taking them to undisclosed locations. Many of the abducted remain missing, and the security forces are refusing to reveal their whereabouts.
Several witnesses interviewed by Human Rights Watch had come across bodies with bullet wounds of those arrested or abducted, leading to strong fears of extrajudicial executions.
After the November polls both Ouattara and Gbagbo declared themselves president and appointed separate governments. The international community, including the African Union, the regional body ECOWAS, and the UN Security Council, has unanimously endorsed Ouattara as the victor and called on Gbagbo to step down.
Human Rights Watch has also documented the recruitment of Liberian mercenaries by pro-Gbagbo government forces, beginning at least in early December, when some who had been combatants in previous regional civil wars were offered money for their services. Multiple witnesses during the December 16 demonstrations in Abidjan noted the presence of Liberians, identifiable by their use of English and irregular uniforms.
