Student Groups in Rebel-controlled Bouaké
From the outbreak of civil war in September 2002 until March 2006, the university in the rebel capital of Bouaké was officially closed. Though most students fled to the relative safety of Abidjan, the Bouaké campus was watched over by a small group of students living on campus, some of whom came to call themselves the “Student Committee.”200 Students managed to survive on proceeds from selling ice and a few donations from French peacekeepers, and attempted to prevent the campus’s small library from being pilfered by looters.201
A student holds a folder outside Bouaké University in March 2006. © 2006 AFP
When the campus officially reopened in March 2006, AGEECI, the rival student group persecuted by FESCI in the southern part of the country for its supposed ties to the rebellion, 202 initiated recruitment and other union activities on the Bouaké campus. Frictions developed between AGEECI and the Student Committee, resulting in a particularly violent confrontation in August 2006 in which one member of the Student Committee was shot in the chest, but survived, and several other members of the Committee were wounded by machete.203 AGEECI members arrested after the August 2006 incident claim that they were accused on New Forces television of being “spies for Gbagbo.”204
A May 2007 clash between members of the Student Committee and other students, including a few members of AGEECI, resulted from an attempt by members of the Student Committee to determine the list of those eligible for a recently announced student aid package.205
Based on conflicting accounts by both sides, blame for the violent incidents of 2006 and 2007 is difficult to determine. However, it is clear that in both instances in which the New Forces rebels intervened, they arrested only members of AGEECI and other non-Committee students, despite the fact that members of the Student Committee were also involved in the violence.206
Members of AGEECI interviewed by Human Rights Watch maintain that their difficulties with the New Forces stem from their refusal to take public positions in favor of the New Forces. One member noted that, “The New Forces want youth who will respond to their needs just like FESCI does for Gbagbo in the south.”207 Though the head of the Student Committee maintains that his organization is apolitical, a New Forces administrator interviewed by Human Rights Watch acknowledged that the Student Committee is “in phase” with the New Forces rebels.208 In an interview with Human Rights Watch, an official with ONUCI’s human rights division denounced what he called “blatant discrimination” in favor of the Student Committee and accused the New Forces of trying to create a sort of “FESCI-FN” to support their policies.209
It remains unclear what will happen to the Student Committee when the country is united and groups like FESCI and AGEECI attempt to re-establish an official presence and undertake union activities. One student interviewed by Human Rights Watch expressed fear for the future of the Bouaké campus once the country is reunited:
I am worried about the fate of the university here. There are several student groups that want to exist at the same time, but I don’t think they want or know how to exist together. Each union wants total control of [the] campus, and their method is violent imposition. It’s hard for me to imagine two unions co-existing peacefully on the same campus in Côte d’Ivoire. And student unions in Africa are never free. At some level, they are always controlled by political parties who use them for their own ends.210
200 Human Rights Watch interviews with students, Bouaké, August 28, and 29, 2007.
201 Ibid.
202 See, Murder, Assault, and Torture, of Fellow Students, Infra.
203 Human Rights Watch interviews with students and an ONUCI official, Bouaké, August 27, 28, and 29, 2007.
204 Human Rights Watch interviews with students, Bouaké, August 28 and 29, 2007.
205 After the minister of higher education announced scholarship assistance for the students of Bouaké, members of the Student Committee drew up a list of 500 students they claimed where eligible for that aid, and submitted it to the University Accommodations Center (CROU), leaving some 1500 students without assistance. According to students interviewed by Human Rights Watch, the list included all members of the Committee and their close friends. On May 21, 2007 a group of students marched to the University Accommodations Center in protest, which led to a violent clash with members of the Committee. Seventeen protestors, but no Committee members, were arrested by the New Forces. They were released soon after. After pressure from New Forces authorities, members of the Committee relented and agreed to allow the money to be divided equally between all students in Bouaké. Human Rights Watch interviews with students, an ONUCI official, and André Ouattara, New Forces administrator, Bouaké, August 27, 28, and 29, 2007.
206 Human Rights Watch interviews with students and an ONUCI official, Bouaké, August 27, 28, and 29, 2007.
207 Human Rights Watch interview with AGEECI member, Bouaké, August 28, 2007. With regards to AGEECI, New Forces officials interviewed by Human Rights Watch point out that all union activity, student or otherwise, has been banned in their territory since May 2006. Human Rights Watch interviews, Bouaké, August 28 and 29, 2007. Student critics maintain, however, that the ban is simply a tool used by the New Forces to restrict the activities of groups that do not openly support its interests (like AGEECI) while allowing others to continue to function (like the Student Committee). Unlike AGEECI which is officially recognized as a union by the Ministry of Interior in the south, the Student Committee does not hold formal status as a union.
208 Human Rights Watch interview with Moussa Konaté, the leader of the Student Committee, and André Ouattara, New Forces administrator, Bouaké, August 29, 2007.
209 Human Rights Watch interview, Bouaké, August 27, 2007.
210 Human Rights Watch interview, Bouaké, August 29, 2007.