---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sat, 04 Nov 2000 23:33:29 -0800
From: Charlotte Utting <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To: [log in to unmask]
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [wa-afr] FW: UPDATE: AI 10/29 Cote d'Ivoire
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From: [log in to unmask]
Organization: Africa Policy Information Center
Reply-To: [log in to unmask]
Date: Fri, 3 Nov 2000 18:51:45 -0500
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: UPDATE: AI 10/29 Cote d'Ivoire
ADNA Update: 001103
Message from: Amnensty International, USA
For contact information see also:
http://www.africapolicy.org/adna
Dear ADNA members,
Following find the recent statement from Amnesty International
regarding Cote d'Ivoire. Feel free to share this with your contacts.
Regards,
Vicki Ferguson
ADNA Communications Facilitator
From: [log in to unmask]
Subject: AI October 29 statement on Cote d'Ivoire
Date sent: Wed, 1 Nov 2000 14:35:32 -0500
29 October 2000
AI Index AFR 31/07/ 2000 - News Service Nr. 206
COTE D'IVOIRE : Amnesty International appeal to all parties
"Human rights violations and very serious disturbances have caused
the death of at least 40 people in Abidjan, the economic capital, and
in other towns in the country, on Thursday 26 October 2000",
Amnesty International has confirmed today. These disturbances
arise principally from conflict between members and sympathisers
of two political parties, the Rassemblement des Républicains (RDR),
Republican Assembly, of Alassane Ouattara and the(strikethrough:
)Front populaire ivoirien (FPI), Ivorian Popular Front, of Laurent
Gbagbo.
The organization demands that those responsible for the security
forces protect the human rights of the whole population, including
foreign nationals who have been targeted by other civilians or by
certain members of the security forces.
Amnesty International also calls on all political office holders, and in
particular Laurent Gbagbo, who was invested as President of the
Republic on Thursday 26 October, and Alassane Ouattara to require
their supporters to respect human rights.
Following these incidents, security forces were deployed throughout
the country and the Minister for Security, General Augustin Asso
Akawa, extended until Saturday 28 October, the curfew and state of
emergency declared some days previously by the then Head of
State, General Robert Gueï, on the eve of the presidential election of
22 October.
Responsibility for ensuring civil peace is all the more important given
the sometimes ambiguous role of the security forces throughout the
events of 26 October. According to information received by
Amnesty International, in certain cases, the security forces joined
with FPI supporters in street fighting against members of the RDR,
in other cases, gendarmes protected members of the RDR
threatened with lynching. Among other incidents, gendarmes
directed automatic fire at the residence of Alassane Ouattara who
was obliged to take refuge in the German Embassy, the
neighbouring building to his home.
"The threat of civil war is hanging over Côte d'Ivoire", the
organization claims today. "All political, military and religious leaders
should join together to dispel the spectre of ethnic and religious
divisions which would inevitably lead to an intensification of human
rights violations."
Amnesty International welcomes the first appeals for calm jointly
launched on national television yesterday by the Catholic and
Islamic religious authorities, which appealed in particular for the
political confrontation between the FPI and RDR not to be
transformed into ethnic and religious violence.
A little later in the day, two senior officials of the FPI and the RDR
appeared together on television to appeal to their activists for calm
and to announce a first meeting between Laurent Gbagbo and
Alassane Ouattara.
"Our sole concern is respect for human rights and we will continue
to monitor the human rights situation in this country in future, as we
have done in the past, independently of which Head of State or
government is in place. We reiterate our demand that an
independent and impartial inquiry that respects international
standards be set up into the events that have taken place in Côte
d'Ivoire since the military coup in December 1999". Amnesty
International confirmed today.
Context
Amnesty International does not favour a particular type of
government but insists to those in power that human rights be
respected throughout the world and this includes the right to life and
the right not to be a victim of torture, whatever the case or the
circumstances. Over the last year the organization has repeatedly
called for justice and redress for unfairly sentenced RDR members,
harassed and tortured family members of the former President,
Henri Konan Bédié and for civilian victims of military groups, some
of whom formed part of the General Gueï's presidential guard. Most
recently, it has called for clarification in relation to those military
personnel arrested following the attack on the residence of General
Gueï in September 2000, whose families remained without news.
The presidential election of 22 October 2000 once again plunged
Côte d'Ivoire into chaos, at a time when the country was
experiencing permanent instability following the military coup of
December 1999 which removed President Henri Konan Bédié from
power.
General Robert Gueï, installed in power by mutinous military forces,
launched an extensive review of legal texts which led to a new
Constitution, adopted by referendum in July 2000. But throughout
his six months in power, General Gueï allowed certain military
groups to commit, often with complete impunity, human rights
violations against family members of Henri Konan Bédié, and
against lawyers and journalists. The armed forces also delivered up
to summary execution presumed lawbreakers, sometimes in public
and after these individuals had been stripped naked. In September
2000, Amnesty International published a report, entitled: Côte
d'Ivoire: some military personnel believe they have impunity above
the law, which denounces human rights violations.
In this report, Amnesty International recalled "that it takes no
position on the eligibility conditions for the presidency of the
Republic, proposed in the Constitution, which have given rise to
numerous debates between different political parties, because this
would go beyond its mandate". However, the organization confirmed
that it would remain "alert to possible abuses that may lead, from a
tendentious interpretation of these eligibility conditions, to
discrimination against certain sectors of the population, who
originate from neighbouring countries". "The underlying debate
about the definition of "Ivorian" and about the extensive presence in
certain economic sectors, of individuals originating from
neighbouring countries is in danger of fuelling tension". The events
of yesterday show, unfortunately, that these fears were well
founded.
The presidential election of 22 October 2000 has led to new political
upheaval, since General Gueï was removed from power following
demonstrations organised by the FPI which was demanding
recognition of the election results giving victory to Laurent Gbagbo.
Two of the three main parties, the RDR and the former party in
power, the Parti démocratique de la Côte d'Ivoire, Côte d'Ivoire
Democratic Party, had called for a boycott of the election because
their candidates had been judged ineligible by the Supreme Court.
Yesterday, Thursday 26 October, Laurent Gbagbo was invested as
President of the Republic, despite protests from Alassane Ouattara's
supporters who were demanding new elections. Laurent Gbagbo
ruled out the possibility of new elections but announced the
formation of an "initial government" and also announced that he
would respect the electoral calendar fixing the holding of legislative
elections for 10 December next.
\ENDS
***
This message from Amnesty International is distributed through the
advocacy network for Africa (ADNA).
Vicki Lynn Ferguson
Advocacy Network for Africa
Communications Facilitator
c/o Africa Policy Information Center
110 Maryland Ave, NE #509
Washington, DC 20002
Ph: 202-546-7961
Fax: 202-546-1545
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Web: http://www.africapolicy.org/adna
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