II. Mass Arbitrary Arrests, Illegal Detention, and Extortion

How does the government expect reconciliation when the FRCI steal from us, treat us all with suspicion, [and] do daily mass arrests?

—Pro-Gbagbo youth arbitrarily arrested in Yopougon and detained at the BAE camp, August 2012[80]

Although arbitrary arrests occurred in June 2012 after the Ivorian government said it had thwarted a coup d’état attempt, the August 6 attack on Akouédo precipitated a crackdown unlike any since the end of the post-election crisis. A diplomat from a key partner to Côte d’Ivoire told Human Rights Watch that there were deep concerns about how Ivorian authorities had framed the issue: “The language they use is very concerning: ‘eradication,’ ‘terrorism,’ ‘clean the country up’. They’re so convinced they’re right [about the nature of the threat and the extent of grassroots involvement] … that they’ve decided to put reconciliation aside.”[81]

Human Rights Watch interviewed 31 people picked up in mass arrests between August 7 and September 11 in Yopougon and around Dabou, and their statements indicated that hundreds more had been similarly arrested and detained. In the vast majority of cases, the security forces did not present any specific reason as to why the person was being arrested, much less an arrest warrant. Rather, the security forces—primarily the military—arrived in typically pro-Gbagbo areas and forced young men en masse to board military trucks in which they were shuttled to detention sites.

The overwhelming majority of those interviewed by Human Rights Watch were civilians detained at military bases—particularly the Yopougon BAE base, the Dabou military camp, and the Adjamé base of the military police, discussed in the previous section. In some cases, the arrests, though done without any individual statement of reasons for the arrest, let alone the filing of charges, appeared to be tangentially related to security: once in detention, members of the Republican Forces (FRCI) demanded the location of guns or militia leaders and took detainees’ fingerprints or picture. In other cases, the arrests appeared to be little more than an extortion scheme: many interviewed by Human Rights Watch said they were never asked questions, even their name. Whether questioned or not, the way to be released was consistent: meet the FRCI’s demand and pay an often substantial sum of money.

None of those interviewed who were detained after mass arrests ever appeared before a judge, despite the requirement under Ivorian law that an individual appear within 48 hours. Many were in illegal detention at military camps for between three and six days.

The majority of those interviewed by Human Rights Watch suffered physical abuse at the hands of the Republican Forces at the moment of the arrest, while in detention, or both. While in these cases of mass arrest such treatment generally did not reach the level of torture, it often met the definition of cruel and inhuman treatment.

The worst and most recurrent abuses documented by Human Rights Watch linked to mass arrests occurred under the command of Ousmane Coulibaly, known as “Bin Laden,” the officer then in charge of the BAE camp in Yopougon Gesco. There, Yopougon residents and former detainees described near-daily illegal detentions, abusive treatment, and extortion during the month of August. In addition, Coulibaly was in charge of overseeing the response to the August 15 attack in Dabou—a response likewise plagued by mass arbitrary arrests and extortion of detainees to obtain their release. Human Rights Watch continued to document new rounds of arbitrary arrests in Dabou through September 11, two days before the researcher left Côte d’Ivoire.

Article 9 of the ICCPR forbids arbitrary arrests and detentions, requiring that “[a]nyone who is arrested shall be informed, at the time of arrest, of the reasons for his arrest and shall be promptly informed of any charges against him.”[82] Article 7 of the ICCPR, along with the Convention against Torture, protects individuals from cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment by state agents like the Republican Forces.[83] Here, the definition of cruel or inhuman treatment is met in a number of cases either by the severity of physical suffering inflicted or by the poor detention conditions, including lack of access to food and water.

Human Rights Watch did document several cases in which the traditional security forces responsible for internal security—the police and gendarmerie—tried to intervene to stop abuses by the military. At times they were successful, while in other cases they were told by soldiers that it was not their affair. Abuses by the Republican Forces appeared to be less acute during searches or patrols when police officers or gendarmes were present.

Yopougon BAE Camp

In the aftermath of the August 5 attacks on a military post and police station in Yopougon, a neighborhood known as a bastion of Gbagbo supporters, members of the Republican Forces responded with mass arbitrary arrests often done apparently on the basis of little more than the person’s ethnicity. Although the August 6 attack on Akouédo occurred on the other side of Abidjan, the allegation of involvement of pro-Gbagbo elements was likewise followed by the mass detention of young men in certain areas of Yopougon, without any individual charges brought.

The frontline of the military’s response in Yopougon was directed by the Republican Forces based at the BAE (for Brigade anti-émeute, or anti-riot unit) police camp. The BAE camp is one of several police camps and stations still controlled by the military.[84] For much of August, the BAE camp served as a revolving door of detainees—with dozens of people arriving after new arrests each day, and dozens of others released upon the payment of an extorted sum of money. Inhuman treatment was pervasive.

A 27-year-old from Yopougon described his arrest on August 24 and subsequent detention at the BAE camp, a testimony similar to several dozen others taken by Human Rights Watch:

I was in a maquis (neighborhood restaurant) with a group of friends. Around 9 p.m., the FRCI arrived in a cargo truck and took all of us from the maquis, even the owner and manager. We were taken to the 37th police precinct, still controlled by the FRCI. There we had to show our ID cards, and they said, “Oh, you’re Bété [a western, typically pro-Gbagbo ethnic group], go here. Oh, you’re Dioula[85] [encompassing several northern, typically pro-Ouattara ethnic groups], go there.” The Dioulas stayed at the 37th [precinct], those of us from [pro-Gbagbo] ethnic groups were taken to the BAE camp in [Yopougon] Gesco…. In the cargo truck, the forced us down and beat us, saying “It’s you the militiamen who we’re looking for.” They stepped on us, kicked us with their boots. They’d even walk on your head, making jokes about squashing militiamen. One guy next to me tried to talk, and one of the FRCI quickly smacked him on the head with the back of his gun. He started bleeding.

When we arrived at the camp, we were put in a cell, about 30 of us. It was really hot in there, and we were packed together, there wasn’t enough room to lie down. They took us out in groups to question us, asking us where guns were hidden. They didn’t question me for long, I guess they believed me. They separated a couple people; I didn’t see them again….

The next morning, the FRCI brought in a guy that works at a phone stand nearby. They told us that we would have to pay 300,000 CFA ($600) to be released. We pleaded and bargained them down to 150,000. I used the guy’s phone to call my cousin. He and my mother came and paid the money, and I was released. I was lucky I only did one day there, but now we have nothing left; my family gave everything for my release.[86]

A Ouattara supporter who lives near the BAE camp told Human Rights Watch, “You wouldn’t believe the things we see there each day. [There are] always youth being trucked in, being beaten. They don’t even hide [the abuses]; it’s often in plain view. [The FRCI there] aren’t afraid of any consequences.”[87] An Ivorian civil society leader agreed: “[The soldiers implicated in abuses] are at ease. They don’t fear anything, and that’s the most dangerous thing: the complete impunity.”[88]

Arbitrary Arrest

Human Rights Watch interviewed Yopougon residents who were arrested in their homes, while eating at a maquis, with friends at a bar, when walking home from church, when in a taxi or a bus, and when attending a funeral. These arrests primarily occurred in perceived pro-Gbagbo areas of Yopougon, including the Koweit, Sicogi, and Niangon neighborhoods. Detainees and other witnesses said often 20 or more people would be arrested at the same time, none of them informed of any specific allegations, much less an arrest warrant, against them.

In almost all of the arrests documented by Human Rights Watch in Yopougon, soldiers from the Republican Forces acted alone or in the lead role in performing the arrests—a role inconsistent with Ivorian and international law. Under Ivorian law, the responsibility for arresting civilians rests primarily with the judicial police, which includes specific categories of the administrative police and the gendarmerie—but not the military.[89] In delegating the responsibility for neighborhood searches and arrests to soldiers not trained to perform such activities—and in particular in delegating to specific former Forces Nouvelles commanders, who often rely on “volunteers” not formally part of the military—Ivorian authorities opened the door to the human rights abuses that followed.

A 28-year-old who was arrested on August 25 told Human Rights Watch that soldiers were clear that there was no individualized basis for the arrest:

I was sitting down in my house when [soldiers] arrived at around 10 or 11 a.m. They announced that they were doing a house-by-house search for guns and a mass roundup. They told me to follow them, and we walked to Carrefour Koweit, where there was a cargo truck waiting with lots of youth already inside. They took 20 to 30 of us to the BAE camp, then went back to the neighborhood to pick up more. They did this all day…. I stayed three days at the BAE, you wouldn’t believe how many people were detained there…. They threatened to send me to the military headquarters if my family didn’t pay for my release…. It was 60,000 CFA ($120) that my family ultimately paid.[90]

A 24-year-old similarly described the FRCI arriving in Yopougon Niangon in a 4x4 covered pickup truck on August 15 and announcing a “systematic mass arrest” as he was walking home around 8:30 p.m. He was told to get into the back of the truck, where there were already eight other youth males, and was taken to the 16th police precinct in Yopougon before being transferred to and detained at the BAE camp for two days. His family ultimately paid 10,000 CFA ($20) for his release.[91]

In most cases documented by Human Rights Watch, the security forces appeared to target youth from typically pro-Gbagbo ethnic groups. As one former BAE detainee said, “You look around [at the detainees] and you see Bété, Guéré, Goro, but no Dioulas.”[92] But at times the mass arrests also swept up people from perceived pro-Ouattara groups. Human Rights Watch interviewed a Malinké who was among a group arbitrarily arrested en masse on August 11. He said that he tried to present his ID card to show that he was from a northern ethnic group, but the soldiers said they were not interested in seeing papers. As he was being forced into a cargo truck, he recalled saying, incredulously, “I voted ADO [Ouattara’s initials], I voted ADO!” But the soldiers said, “We’re taking everyone here in today.” After arriving at the BAE camp, however, the man was able to call a contact in the local RDR youth wing and was quickly released without having to pay anything.[93]

Yopougon residents, particularly in pro-Gbagbo areas, told Human Rights Watch that they lived with a de facto curfew because of the routine arbitrary arrests. Many related that any group of young men from pro-Gbagbo ethnic groups outside after 8 p.m.—whether at a restaurant, a bar, or walking along the street—was likely to be arrested. In a sentiment expressed almost unanimously, a 27-year-old from Yopougon Koweit said: “You have to be in your house after 8 p.m., or you’ll have problems. If you’re outside after then, especially with a group of friends, you’ll be arrested…. Yopougon becomes a ghost town.”[94]

In response to a Human Rights Watch question about the juridical basis for mass arrests, the minister of human rights and public liberties said that after attacking the military, the assailants “would rid themselves of their arms and hide among the population. It was on the basis of a body of evidence and often after denunciation that these people were arrested as part of an investigation. It was targeted arrests and not mass arrests.”[95]

As noted above, particularly in regards to the Adjamé camp, Human Rights Watch did document a few cases in which people were arrested on the basis of “denunciations” or some other form of intelligence. But in the vast majority of cases documented by Human Rights Watch, arrests were clearly not targeted on the basis of individualized suspicion. Rounding up 20-50 young men seated at a maquis, on board a bus, or in house-to-house arrests in certain neighborhoods is not targeted and is in conflict with Ivorian and human rights law. As detailed below, the arbitrary nature of the arrest was further confirmed by the fact that many of those detained for days at the BAE and Dabou military camps were never questioned. They were merely held, often subjected to inhuman treatment, and then forced to pay a sum of money to gain their release. The government’s answer also does not respond to the fact that the Republican Forces—in contrast to police, gendarmes, and judicial police—do not appear to have any basis under Ivorian law to perform such arrests, whether targeted or mass in nature.

Arbitrary Detention, Inhuman Treatment

The former detainees at the BAE camp interviewed by Human Rights Watch were all civilians and therefore should not have been brought to or detained at a military camp. The length of detention at the BAE camp ranged from one to six days among those who Human Rights Watch interviewed. No one interviewed had charges presented against him, nor did anyone interviewed appear before a judge. As noted above, Ivorian law stipulates that any civilian under arrest is to be charged or released within 48 hours,[96] making anything beyond that time an arbitrary detention under the Code of Criminal Procedure and the Ivorian constitution.[97]

Because Human Rights Watch interviewed people who had been released, the information is likely skewed toward those that spent the least amount of time in detention. Interviewees universally said that many people remained in detention when they were released, since release was dependant on paying a sum of money. And many former detainees described specific individuals being separated out, handcuffed, and moved from the BAE to another facility—likely more permanent detention sites, including the military police base in Adjamé, the Direction de la surveillance du territoire (Department of Territorial Surveillance, commonly known as the DST) in Plateau, and the main Abidjan prison, known as MACA.

Physical abuse against detainees at the BAE camp was common, although did not always occur; several former detainees reported not being physically mistreated after the initial arrest. For those who were beaten, it was generally during questioning or while outside in the courtyard due to overcrowding in detention rooms. One former detainee described being slapped repeatedly as soldiers referred to him as a “militiaman” during an interrogation.[98] Another detainee described soldiers striking him with their belts while being asked about the location of hidden guns. He related, “If they weren’t satisfied with my response, they hit me—in the head, on the back. And they were never satisfied, as I didn’t know anything about guns and kept telling them so.”[99] The detainee showed Human Rights Watch several scars on his back and head that he said were from wounds suffered during detention.

Another detainee, arrested on August 17, described how soldiers tormented him and other detainees as they tried to sleep outside at the camp:

We had to sleep outside because of how crowded the camp was. All night the first night, if you started to fall asleep, one of the soldiers would walk by and smack you with the back of his gun, or kick you. They would laugh as they were doing it and call us “bastards”…. After a couple times of them hitting me, I stopped trying to fall asleep. My face was swollen from when they struck me with the back of a Kalash[nikov rifle]….[100]

After their release, several people interviewed by Human Rights Watch sought medical treatment for injuries suffered during their arrest or detention. One had been repeatedly kicked in the chest by soldiers at the BAE camp, resulting in severe pain and difficulty breathing.[101] Another former detainee reported having his hand broken when a soldier slammed the back of his Kalashnikov down on it.[102]

Several former detainees also described hearing what they believed was physical abuse. One person taken to the BAE camp on August 20 after soldiers removed and arrested all males on a mini-bus entering Yopougon Koweit told Human Rights Watch:

There were guys we heard crying out in pain. I couldn’t see it, because they didn’t do it inside the cell. But you’d hear what sounded like beatings, like [the soldiers] were landing punches or striking someone with a cord. You’d hear “Please stop, please stop,” and then the person crying out as they were being struck…. Sometimes it was people they would take from my cell, and they would return later with marks [from being hit]. Other times it was people from other cells, as I never saw them but you could hear these beatings going on.[103]

In addition to physical abuse, those detained at the BAE camp experienced abusive conditions linked to the fact that the camp is an irregular detention site, rather than a prison or police station. Rooms around 12 feet by 12 feet in size were packed with as many as 30 detainees. Several detainees said they slept seated next to each other at night. Others described taking turns sleeping, with 10 people lying down for a couple hours while the others stood or sat until it was time to rotate.[104] On days in which a particularly large number of people were arbitrarily arrested, dozens of detainees were forced to spend the night outside at the BAE camp—left to the elements, including rain and mosquitoes.[105]

All of those interviewed by Human Rights Watch detained at the BAE camp said that the soldiers in charge of the camp did not provide any food or water. Any food was brought by family members who knew that a relative was detained there; new detainees tried to then pass the news of their detention back to their family through those that brought food. Detainees shared the food that was brought, though this generally meant eating as little as a few bites of bread per day. Many detainees described going several days without eating anything.[106]

Criminal Acts by the FRCI during Arrests and Detentions

Nearly all of those interviewed described the widespread commission of criminal acts by members of the FRCI in Yopougon. These crimes were perpetrated first during the process of neighborhood sweeps and mass arrests, when soldiers stole cash and valuables such as cell phones, computers, and jewelry from people’s homes and off people being arrested; and second, by demanding money in order to secure a detainee’s release. The mass arrests appear to have been a financial boon for members of the Republican Forces based at the BAE camp, and a crippling hardship to those who were swept up because of their age and perceived political affiliation.

All but two detainees at the BAE interviewed by Human Rights Watch said they were forced to pay soldiers there in order to obtain their release. In general, those arrested and detained in the week after the Akouédo attack reported having to pay between 10,000 and 30,000 CFA ($20-$60), while by the end of August the demanded sum appeared to have risen to between 60,000 and 150,000 CFA ($120-$300). A number of detainees described a “negotiation” with the soldiers, in which a higher sum was originally demanded before the detainee or his family bargained them down to a lower figure. Soldiers would often hand the detainee a phone to call his parents and report the amount needed for a release; in other cases, as described in the former detainee’s statement at the beginning of this chapter, the soldiers brought in a person who ran a phone stand near the BAE camp to place the calls.

Human Rights Watch spoke with seven people who were either victim or witness to theft perpetrated by individuals in or aligned with the Republican Forces during the course of neighborhood sweeps after the August attacks. A 26-year-old from western Côte d’Ivoire described the ongoing financial consequences of his ordeal:

On Saturday [August 25], they came to my house at around 1 p.m. They were doing searches throughout the neighborhood [Yopougon Koweit]. They said that they were looking for weapons and went through my rooms. They took a laptop [computer] that was in my room, a computer that had been given to me for work by my boss. They also stole the money I had in my house, my LG cell phone, and a cylinder of gas. Everything I had of value, they took…. They demanded that my wife and I show our [ID] papers, and when they saw mine they said, “You’re from the West. You’re one of the pro-Gbagbos that did checkpoints here.” On and on, telling me that I was a militiaman. They ripped up my [ID] papers and told me to get in their truck.

I spent a night at the 37th police precinct [in Yopougon], and then at 6 a.m. I was put in a cargo truck to go to the BAE [military camp]. There were so many people at the 37th precinct, more than 50, maybe more than 100. They’d take people in a cargo truck to the BAE, drop them off, then come back and pick up more.

There was no more space in the cell at the BAE, so we slept outside. They roughed us up a little, would kick people as they watched over us. They never asked me anything. Later that day they told me to call my family, to have them come pay for my release. I told them that my family had left Abidjan [after Akouédo] and were back in our [native] village. I was scared that I was never going to get out, so I called my boss, the only person I could think of. He came and paid 100,000 CFA ($200) for my release on Sunday, and I was let go around 10 a.m…. My boss has said that I’ll work off what he paid, plus the cost of the computer. I lost everything, and now I won’t even get paid [for awhile]. What these FRCI are doing, it’s bullshit.[107]

Although going into debt with a boss was unique among those interviewed by Human Rights Watch, many others interviewed described their immediate family not having sufficient money easily accessible—forcing families to pool money from uncles, cousins, friends, and others willing to lend assistance.

Minister Coulibaly, in his response to Human Rights Watch, indicated that the government would open an investigation into criminal activities by the Republican Forces, including extortion in exchange for release from detention. He continued: “If the allegations are proven in regards to members of the security forces, they will be brought before the courts. In addition, the minister of human rights and public liberties will continue to train the security forces on human rights. We reiterate that they have already received such training.”[108]

Human Rights Watch welcomes the ongoing human rights training for the Ivorian security forces. However, training has to date proven insufficient in changing the behavior of at least some members of the Republican Forces. Ending the culture of impunity through arrests and prosecutions for human rights abuses is therefore critical. Human Rights Watch welcomes the government’s commitment in this regard and will monitor its progress going forward.

Detention-Related Abuses and Extortion in Dabou Military Camp

After the August 15 attack in Dabou that targeted a military installation and resulted in the freeing of some 100 people from the local prison,[121] the Republican Forces proceeded to replicate many of the abuses seen in Yopougon after the August 5 and 6 attacks in Abidjan. Young males and, in some cases, females, were rounded up during mass arrests, brought to the Dabou military camp, and generally forced to pay to be released. Many of the men were beaten during the arrest or detention. Mass arrests around Dabou were still ongoing when the Human Rights Watch researcher left the country on September 13. As in Yopougon, the vast majority of those arrested hailed from typically pro-Gbagbo ethnic groups, in particular the Adjoukrou and Ebrié.

Dabou residents said that mass arrests occurred almost daily after the August 15 attack, with surrounding villages perceived as pro-Gbagbo targeted in particular. A resident of Orbaff, a village some 15 kilometers from Dabou, said that that village had been subject to three different mass arrests in the month after the attack.[122] Residents from three villages near Dabou said that their village chief or deputy village chief had been arrested, maltreated, and detained—released only after a particularly exorbitant sum was paid.[123]

Human Rights Watch obtained videos taken inside the Dabou military camp, one of them showing some 20 young men stripped to their underwear and another showing a soldier striking an older detainee—reported to be a village chief—with a belt. In general, similar to Yopougon, people were detained for between one and four days at the camp. However, several former detainees and other Dabou residents said that a few people remained unaccounted for, as they had been moved elsewhere rather than released with others when money was paid.[124]

A 23-year-old woman arrested around 10 p.m. on September 9 while at a maquis in Dabou described her arrest and detention:

There was a big group of us at the maquis. Two cargo trucks pulled up around 10 p.m. and they took everyone, men and women. They said it was a simple mass arrest. They forced the men to strip and put them in one of the cargo trucks, and then put [the women] in the other cargo truck. They took all of us to their camp, just outside Dabou. We were probably around 40 or 50 people in total [that were arrested]. All of those that arrested us were FRCI, in their military fatigues with Kalash[nikovs].

When we got there, they took my photo and my fingerprints. They questioned us one by one, about militiamen, guns. It’s always the same stuff. We stayed outside at the camp until morning. The FRCI sleep in their little houses there; we were outside, with someone watching over us…. They didn’t hit the women, but they beat the men. They hit them when they arrested them, and they hit them in the camp. With their Kalash[nikovs], with belts, whatever they have in their hand.

The next morning [a local official] came and pleaded to let [the women] go, [and the FRCI agreed]. I asked them to let my [male] cousin go too, but one of the FRCI guys said they would only let [my cousin] go if I slept with [the soldier]. A lot of the women had [male] relatives there too, and several of the FRCI were saying the same thing: sleep with us and we’ll let him go. We all refused, so they let us go but kept the men…. We were only able to free my cousin yesterday, when we paid 5,000 CFA ($10).[125]

According to detainees and family members interviewed by Human Rights Watch, the money demanded for a person’s release from the Dabou military camp was generally much lower than what was reported at the Yopougon BAE camp—usually either 5,000 CFA or 10,000 CFA ($20).[126]

Human Rights Watch interviewed two witnesses to a mass arrest on September 11 that occurred during a fête de generation, a celebration among the Ébrié and Adjoukrou people representing that youth have reached the age of maturity. The Republican Forces arrived in a village near Dabou as the celebration was ongoing and arrested all the young men present, in addition to a village elder. The witnesses indicated that the soldiers beat those that they were arresting repeatedly as they put them into the cargo truck to take them to the camp.[127]

Irregular Detention Sites, Access Problems for Family, Monitors

Detaining civilians within illegal detention sites like the FRCI-controlled BAE camp, the Dabou military camp, and the military police camp in Adjamé has made observation of conditions difficult for family members and independent monitors. The problems are compounded by the government’s refusal to give access to some Ivorian organizations that have traditionally done prison monitoring. The situation is even worse, however, in a number of impromptu detention sites that are not even sanctioned military camps—particularly houses and hotels that soldiers in the Republican Forces, or “volunteers” still associated with the Republican Forces, continue to occupy.

A family member whose relative had been moved between several detention sites in Abidjan described the inconsistencies in access:

He was first taken to [military police commander] Zakaria’s camp in Adjamé, but we couldn’t see him there. Then he was transferred to the main police station downtown, where we could see and visit him. After three or four days, he was moved to MACA [the main Abidjan prison], where we could again monitor how he was doing and bring him food. Then a couple days ago we went to MACA and were told he wasn’t there anymore. We don’t know where he is. We’ve heard the DST, but there are also rumors that he has been abducted and sent [to an unknown site]. We went to the DST, but they wouldn’t tell us anything. [Note: Human Rights Watch received credible information that he was at the DST.] It was better when he was at MACA, at least we could monitor how he was doing. Now we know nothing, and fear the worst.[128]

Groups tasked with monitoring detention sites likewise expressed frustration. The president of an Ivorian human rights organization that has traditionally done extensive work on prison monitoring told Human Rights Watch that for more than a year they have made demands to the interior and defense ministries for authorization to visit detention sites. They had yet to receive a response, despite assurances to the government that their monitoring would be done discreetly.[129] The result is a void in assuring that human rights are respected in detention sites.

Regarding UNOCI’s monitoring of detention sites after the August attacks, a UN official told Human Rights Watch in September, “Access is getting better, but it hasn’t been systematic. There are times when we’ve been given access, and times when we haven’t. The last time we went to the BAE camp, for example, we didn’t have access because [the commander] wasn’t there…. It’s never clear how far we can go in our monitoring, whether we can talk to detainees individually, whether we’ll have complete access.”[130] Another UN official noted that the difficulty of monitoring was compounded by the fact that people were being arrested, released, and transferred between sites every day.[131] UN officials did stress that cooperation was improving and that access was getting better at most of the main detention sites.

On top of the challenges in monitoring sites like the BAE and Adjamé military camps that have housed hundreds of detainees, some members of the Republican Forces have continued to use neighborhood sites that they occupy illegally. Paul Koffi Koffi, the acting defense minister, issued a circular in May 2012 demanding that, by June 30, soldiers stop occupying police and gendarme stations, schools and training centers, hotels, office buildings, and public and private residences.[132] He threatened those who failed to comply, as well as their commanders, with removal from the military, disciplinary sanctions and, in certain cases, prosecution.[133]

Yet, in spite of this order, people linked to the Republican Forces continue to occupy such buildings and, in some cases, to use them as detention centers. Human Rights Watch documented detentions at the Hôtel Blanc in Yopougon Koweit, at the Hôtel Timotel in Yopougon Niangon, and at a small military camp in a village outside Dabou. Credible reports indicated that at least one of the houses of a former official close to Gbagbo may also have been used for detentions.[134] Human Rights Watch did not document abuses at these sites that went beyond the treatment described above at the BAE camp and main Dabou military camp, but using such sites is in contrast with Ivorian and international law—and raises concern about the potential for more serious abuses. In responding to future security threats, Ivorian authorities need to ensure that people subject to arrest are brought to official detention sites and questioned by those authorized under Ivorian law, and that monitors receive complete access to ensure that conditions are in accordance with Ivorian and international standards.

In his response to Human Rights Watch, the minister of human rights and public liberties wrote that in regards to individuals “implicated in murderous attacks against the FRCI or for attacks against state security, you understand that we cannot, at a certain stage of the investigations, give free access to [observers]. It goes to the country’s security. Moreover, in regards to detainees in prisons, visitors must follow procedures outlined under Ivorian law, as exists throughout the world.”[135]

The monitoring of detention conditions by international and Ivorian observers poses no threat to the country’s security. Indeed, ensuring the humane treatment of detainees—particularly detainees at high-risk for abuse, like those picked up in mass sweeps for “state security” reasons—is a crucial part of the country’s return to rule of law. When the minister speaks of those in detention as “implicated in murderous attacks,” it also masks that the vast majority of those interviewed by Human Rights Watch had not been charged with, much less convicted of, any crime. The “evidence” against them appeared to primarily be their ethnicity and location of residence, picked up en masse without arrest warrants.

Marginalization of Police, Gendarmes

Since the end of the post-election crisis, the Republican Forces and armed “volunteers” loyal to them have unlawfully taken over many functions that the police and gendarmes are legally mandated to do, including conducting home and vehicle searches, performing arrests and interrogations of civilians, operating road checkpoints, and even directing traffic at intersections. Police and gendarmes had progressively re-assumed some of their responsibilities in the months before the August attacks, but the prior division of Abidjan into zones controlled by different military commanders effectively returned in the face of the security threat. Given the abuses that have plagued the military’s response—and consistent reports of fewer abuses when the police or gendarmes are involved in basic security functions—it is essential that the government make progress in equipping and entrusting the police and gendarmerie to perform their duties.

A diplomat in Abidjan told Human Rights Watch, “After Akouédo, the government put the [former Forces Nouvelles] com-zone network[136] back in place. It was a step back for the SSR [security sector reform] process.”[137] Another diplomat said, “The President is aware of the problems [associated with returning security functions to the FRCI], but the lack of confidence in the ex-FDS [forces previously under Gbagbo, including the police and gendarmes] pushed him to re-activate the com-zones, with all the problems that come along with that.”[138] A representative from an international organization in Abidjan similarly told Human Rights Watch, “[The government] went from one extreme to the other after [Akouédo]—it went from the military being back in the barracks to [the FRCI] being in charge [again] and completely out of control.”[139]

During three weeks in Abidjan, including daily trips to Yopougon, the vast majority of road checkpoints that a Human Rights Watch researcher encountered were manned only by FRCI soldiers. Although the city became less overtly militarized by early September, with fewer checkpoints and military patrols, the FRCI remained the security forces primarily visible at checkpoints and on patrol. Moreover, even when a checkpoint had both soldiers and police officers or gendarmes, the FRCI were usually responsible for checking papers and searching cars, while the other security forces stood by. Of the nine times a Human Rights Watch researcher was stopped at a checkpoint in Yopougon, FRCI soldiers performed all of them. Several checkpoints Human Rights Watch encountered at night in other Abidjan neighborhoods were likewise manned by soldiers.

In explaining the military’s primacy in responding to the August attacks, Ivorian government officials said that a significant number of police weapons and cars were stolen when police stations were looted during the crisis, leaving the police ill-equipped to deal with security threats.[140] In previous public statements, government officials have also blamed the inability to re-arm the police and gendarmerie on the UN Security Council arms embargo still in place.[141] However, Côte d’Ivoire remains awash in guns; the government has failed to make progress in disarmament and demobilization, which could return stolen equipment to the police and gendarmes while reducing the troubling authority of “volunteer” former fighters who continue to maintain relationships with certain FRCI commanders.

Yopougon residents indicated that human rights abuses were often less frequent or less severe when police officers or gendarmes were involved in the search, arrest, or detention, even if the action was done jointly with members of the Republican Forces. Several victims of arbitrary arrest or detention told Human Rights Watch that police officers or gendarmes tried to intervene on their behalf and stop abuses. During house-to-house searches in Yopougon, several residents said that the presence of police or gendarmes appeared to deter soldiers from stealing from homes.

A youth arrested while walking home from a church function on August 25 described how police kept him from being detained and upbraided soldiers who had stolen dozens of cell phones from those arrested:

There were security forces everywhere conducting a mass arrest…. They walked all the youth they had arrested in Indian [single] file through Koweit to carrefour Koweit, where they told us to lay down. My uncle called my cell phone at that moment, and I answered to tell him what was happening. An FRCI element started insulting me, yelling at me to hang up the phone. Another FRCI had a sack and was going around taking everyone’s cell phones. When he got to me, I said no, how is my family going to find out where I am. He hit me across the face. Another FRCI came over and pointed his Kalash[nikov] at me, and I put my phone in the sack….

God thankfully made that there was a police officer nearby. It was a mixed patrol in the neighborhood, but the FRCI were the majority where we were lying down…. I said to the police officer, “I was arrested when coming from a church meeting.” And I showed him papers that proved I was coming from church. The policeman went to the FRCI to try to persuade him to let me go, but the FRCI guy got very angry and said that I was a militiaman.

Two 4x4s came by with police officers, including a commissioner [from the CRS II]. The police officer I talked to went to his commander and explained my story. The commissioner asked the officer my name, and the guy started to shake with fear, he was nervous about intervening for me. I spoke up and explained the situation to the commissioner. The commissioner told me to get out of the line of people arrested…. I asked him about my phone, telling him the FRCI had put them all in a sack. The commissioner got really angry and went to the FRCI guy and asked him, “Who gave you the authority to take cell phones? That is not what we’re doing here!” He came back and told me to put my phone number on a paper, and they’d get my phone back to me—the sack was so full of phones it would have taken too long to search through it …. The CRS police officer said that he would go and get my phone from the BAE camp. He said, “If I let you go alone, it’s not clear that you’ll return.”… With their help, I was able to get my phone back later and wasn’t detained with [everyone else] at the BAE camp.[142]

Not all such efforts were successful. A person arrested on August 24 and taken to the BAE camp reported that “some gendarmes tried to intervene and tell the FRCI [to let us go, that we weren’t militiamen], but the FRCI told them to go back to their own camp, that this wasn’t their area.”[143] One civil society leader told Human Rights Watch that a key problem was the continued imbalance of power between the different security forces: “What can the police do? They have one gun for every five of them. The gendarmes might have one gun for every two or three. The police in particular [often] don’t have cars. The FRCI, especially the former FN, are heavily armed, they have trucks, 4x4s, cars.”[144]

Even with the power imbalance, the mere presence of police officers or gendarmes was beneficial according to some Yopougon residents interviewed by Human Rights Watch. As reported above, several Yopougon residents reported having valuables—like computers, money, jewelry, and cell phones—stolen during FRCI house searches done ostensibly to look for weapons. One person whose house was searched by a joint group of FRCI and gendarmes on August 25 explained how he was spared from having valuables stolen:

When they came to my house, it was a guy in a gendarme uniform with an FRCI guy behind him holding an RPG [rocket-propelled grenade]. The gendarme guy did the search. No search warrant, he just came and said, “We’re going to look around.” He did it quickly, and they didn’t take anything from my house. When they started the searches [in another part of Yopougon Koweit] earlier that day, it was just FRCI, and they were stealing from everyone. I had friends and family who were stolen from. People complained to the police, the gendarmes, anyone we could call. By early afternoon there were gendarmes and police with them.[145]

There remains an uneasy relationship between the different security forces, and government officials are quick to point out that Gbagbo stacked certain forces—including parts of the police and gendarmerie—with people from ethnic groups that tended to support him, marginalizing northern Ivorians.[146] That is true, and the August attacks have heightened the mistrust, particularly as Akouédo appeared to include assistance from people within the military camp. However, relying exclusively on the military—and, at times, former fighters not even part of the Ivorian army—appears to produce a greater number of abuses against civilians, hardening even moderate Gbagbo supporters against the government and army. Progress needs to be made toward returning internal security functions to the police and gendarmerie.

Impact on Reconciliation, Government Response

The abusive response by some soldiers in the Republican Forces to the attacks on military installations has furthered the perception among many Gbagbo supporters that they are all “guilty until proven innocent.”[147] At a time when the country remains deeply divided along political and ethnic lines, the military’s actions pose a dangerous risk in terms of further alienating Gbagbo supporters. Several government officials admitted excesses in the military’s response, but focused on the gravity of the security threat and promised that steps had been and would be taken in order to check abuses in the future.

As one person who had been detained at the BAE camp said, in a line repeated by many others interviewed by Human Rights Watch: “How will there be harmony and reconciliation in this context?”[148] Another former detainee at the BAE camp said similarly:

How does the government expect reconciliation when the FRCI steal from us, treat us all as militiamen, [and] do daily mass arrests? I have nothing left now, all my money was taken or [used to pay for my release]. If someone asks me tomorrow to pick up a gun and fight the FRCI, I don’t know what I will say. When people have been stripped of everything, when all we are left with is hatred … we’re a long way from reconciliation.[149]

A leading civil society activist in Côte d’Ivoire said similarly:

People are trying to break from their FESCI or Young Patriots [two longtime, violent pro-Gbagbo militia groups] past, but the government is throwing them right back into it by arresting them simply because they’re labeled as being pro-Gbagbo…. Hatred is crystallizing. Both sides must stop fooling around with this.[150]

When presented with Human Rights Watch’s findings, Interior Minister Hamed Bakayoko said, “We can and should respond within the law, and every day we try to press the importance of human rights. But we also need to stand together with the military, as they have been killed in cold blood. We just need a little time.” Bakayoko stressed that progress had been made despite the fact that “a lot of pro-Gbagbos do not want peace or reconciliation.”[151] Human Rights Minister Gnénéma Coulibaly said similarly, “When faced with people who kill without giving it thought, you have to respond. Searches, arrests, that is okay. But it has to be done within the law.”[152]

Both ministers promised to speak with those in charge of the BAE camp in Yopougon and to do site visits. Bakayoko also agreed that mixed patrols and mixed units at security checkpoints could be a way to reduce tensions between the military and the population perceived as pro-Gbagbo.[153]