Côte d’Ivoire’s military was responsible for widespread human rights abuses in August and early September 2012, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The abuses included arbitrary arrests, illegal detentions, extortion, inhuman treatment, and, in some cases, torture.

Armed militants hostile to the Ivorian government have recruited Liberian children and carried out deadly cross-border raids on Ivorian villages in recent months, Human Rights Watch said today. Liberian authorities have failed to investigate and prosecute dozens of Liberian and Ivorian nationals who crossed into Liberia after committing war crimes during Côte d’Ivoire’s 2010-2011 post-election crisis, some of whom have been implicated in the recent attacks, Human Rights Watch said.

Côte d’Ivoire’s national commission of inquiry investigating the 2010-2011 post-election violence should extend its mandate by six months to August 2012.

The government of President Alassane Ouattara should match its rhetorical commitment to impartial justice with action against its own troops implicated in crimes during the post-election violence and its aftermath. An imbalance in justice efforts threatens to open new divisions at a moment when the Ouattara government has a unique opportunity to move Côte d’Ivoire past the manipulation of political and ethnic blocs that occurred under former President Laurent Gbagbo.