ABIDJAN, Oct 22 (AFP) - Imam Idrissa Koudouss, president of the National
Islamic Council in Ivory Coast, has vowed to do everything possible to
avoid letting the month-long military uprising degenerate into an ethnic
and religious war.
"We Ivorians were not expecting this, especially our Muslim
community...
which is paying a heavy price" in the crisis, he told AFP in an interview
Monday.
"Our concern is the same as everyone's -- that this war could turn into
an ethnic war, or a religious war. You have what happened in Rwanda,
Burundi, Somalia. When a war becomes an ethnic or religious war, you cannot
stop it.
That's my big fear," he said.
Koudouss said the situation in Daloa was especially troubling. The town,
the capital of the western cocoa-growing region, was recaptured by loyalist
forces last week after three days under rebel control.
"Monday morning, I was informed that Daloa's local authorities made a
report yesterday about the burial of 56 Muslims who had been shot dead by
security forces. Nineteen bodies are still in the streets today," he said.
"With each incident like this, I call President (Laurent) Gbagbo and I
inform him of it. If security forces, who should protect people and make
them safe... kill part of the population on the basis of ethnicity or
religion, that's serious," the imam said.
Gbagbo has asked the paramilitary gendarmes to give him a report on the
incident by Tuesday, according to Koudouss.
Since the uprising began on September 19, Muslims and certain ethnic
groups and nationalities have suffered hate attacks. The rebels have cited
persecution of Muslims as among the reasons for their uprising.
"We're asking the authorities to spare the Muslim community, which has
never posed a security threat to the state since the Ivory Coast's birth.
Even president Houphouet Boigny publicly apologized to our community for
having done wrong by us."
"If the mutineers are rebelling, our community shouldn't have to pay
for that," he said.
The imam plans to create his own mediation committee, which will include
representatives from all religions and from human rights groups, to work
toward ending ethnic and religious hatred in Ivory Coast. He hopes to win
Gbagbo's support for the effort.
Koudouss said Muslims in Ivory Coast had been marginalized since
independence, but the religious tensions were kept in check under Boigny,
the first president after independence from France.
"The situation today has its roots in 1993, with the concept of
'Ivorian-ness' created by president (Henri Konan) Bedie. Islam is the
oldest of the revealed religions in Ivory Coast. We've had mosques for 800
years," he said.
"We don't understand this persecution. Officially, we represent 40
percent of the population, and we are the largest religious community in
the country," he said.
"The scars are there. You can forgive, not forget. What's happening is
horrible. But as clerics, we keep hope. For the last three days, the entire
Muslim community has fasted and prayed for peace. The faithful must never
despair, for ourselves and for the country."
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