By Ekow
Mensah
Nguessan Kofi Serges
was until last week going about his normal business as an Ivorian refugee in
Ghana.
 |
| Ghana President John Mahama |
Now the story from
Abidjan is that he has been allegedly
murdered by forces loyal to Allasane Ouattarra, President of La Cote
d’Ivoire.
The bigger problem is
that Ghana’s security services are being blamed for the murder because he was
arrested in Accra and handed over to the Ouattarra forces.
Serges was arrested
with Mosis Christian Pierre, another Ivorian refugee who has been granted bail.
Not much is known of
the two refugees one of whom is said to be a driver.
The arrest of Serges
and Pierre comes only a week after the former Ivorian Minister of Youth Affairs
Charles Ble Goude was arrested in Accra and
later handed over to the Ivorian authorities.
There are serious
questions about the arrest and what has been described as extraordinary
rendition of Ivorian refugees by the Ghanaian authorities.
 |
| Charles Ble Goude |
In the case of Charles
Ble Goude he was allegedly arrested on a warrant issued by the International
Criminal Court (ICC) and yet the Ghanaian authorities handed him over to the Ouattarra
forces instead of sending him to The Hague.
There are also questions
as to whether persons registered by the UNHCR can be arrested by host countries
and handed over to their countries of origin especially when they have
legitimate fears of persecution.
EDITORIAL
NOTHING TO GAIN!
The Insight is deeply concerned about reports
that Nguessan Kofi Serge an Ivorian refugee in Ghana has been murdered by
Pro-Ouattara forces after the Ghanaian authorities handed him over.
Our view is that
there can be no justification for extra-judicial killings especially of unarmed
civilians.
The Government of Ghana needs to be told in
the face that refugees cannot be sent back to their countries of origin where
there is reasonable fear that they may be tortured or killed.
The Insight is unable to understand why the
Government of Ghana has plunged itself into what has been described as
extraordinary rendition of Ivorian refugees.
The Government of Ghana is in clear violation
of international law and conventions which frown on such extraordinary
renditions.
The terrible human
rights record of the Ouattara regime should teach Government of Ghana that refugees sent
home could face very grim circumstances.
Indeed, it is
instructive that the Ouattara faction of
the ruling elite in La Cote d’Ivoire repeatedly refused to sign an extradiction
treaty with Ghana and since the days of Nkrumah has harboured Ghanaian dissidents
in the pay of imperialism.
Ghana has nothing to
gain from the collaboration with Ouattara.
MAYHEM IN LA COTE D’ IVORE
Amnesty
International’s report on La Cote d’Ivoire for 2012 paints a gruesome picture
of blatant human rights violations across the country.
The report lists
rape, extra-judicial killings and other war crimes. The Insight is publishing
it may guide the Ghanaian authorities in their haste to repatriate Ivorian
refugees.
Please read on.
The violence that
followed the disputed presidential election in November 2010 caused the most
serious humanitarian and human rights crisis in Côte d’Ivoire since the de
facto partition of the country in September 2002. Hundreds of people were
unlawfully killed, often only on the grounds of their ethnicity or presumed
political affiliation. Women and adolescents were victims of sexual violence,
including rape, and hundreds of thousands of people were forced to flee their
homes to seek refuge in other regions of Côte d’Ivoire or in neighbouring
countries, especially Liberia. Both sides committed war crimes and crimes
against humanity, and in October the International Criminal Court opened an
investigation into some of these crimes.
 |
| Presidential Claimant Alhassan Quattara |
The November 2010
presidential elections led to a political stalemate after outgoing President
Laurent Gbagbo refused to recognize the victory of Alassane Ouattara. After
three months of sporadic fighting, at the end of March forces loyal to Alassane
Ouattara launched an offensive and occupied almost all the areas held by forces
loyal to Laurent Gbagbo. In April, soldiers with the UN Operation in Côte
d’Ivoire (UNOCI) and the French Force Licorne bombed the artillery deployed by
troops loyal to Laurent Gbagbo, who was eventually arrested.
Human rights
violations and abuses continued to be committed after April, and in the
economic capital Abidjan real or perceived supporters of former President
Gbagbo were targeted. In Abidjan and the west of the country, thousands of
people fled their homes and went to neighbouring countries, including Ghana. By
the end of the year, more than 250,000 refugees and displaced people had not
returned home for fear of attacks or reprisals.
In December,
legislative elections that were boycotted by the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI),
the party of former President Gbagbo, led to a decisive victory for the
coalition supporting President Ouattara.
In September, a
national Truth, Reconciliation and Dialogue Commission was officially
inaugurated by President Ouattara but had not begun its work by the end of the
year.
Pro-Gbagbo security forces
During the first
four months of the year, pro-Gbagbo security forces extrajudicially executed
and arrested people during demonstrations, in the streets or in their homes.
Some were victims of enforced disappearance and most were Dioulas, a generic
term designating those with a Muslim name or from the north of Côte d’Ivoire or
other countries in the sub-region.
- In January, Bamba Mamadou, nicknamed Solo, a football player, was beaten to the ground and shot dead by security forces patrolling in the Banfora Adjamé neighbourhood of Abidjan.
- In February, security forces loyal to Laurent Gbagbo shelled densely populated areas of Abobo, a district of Abidjan, killing many people, including women and children.
 |
| Wife Of Ivorian President Gbagbo molested |
Republican Forces of Côte d’Ivoire (FRCI)
The Republican
Forces of Côte d’Ivoire (FRCI), created in March by Alassane
Ouattara, killed and tortured real or presumed supporters of Laurent Gbagbo,
notably in the west of the country.
- In April, Basile Mahan Gahé, Secretary General of the trade union organization Confédération Dignité, was tortured after being arrested by the FRCI. He was reportedly made to face a mock execution and was pounded on his back with the flat side of a machete blade.
- In May, three military officers were arrested by the FRCI in Yopougon. Two were released but the third, Mathurin Tapé, who was a Bété (the ethnic group to which Laurent Gbagbo belongs), remained unaccounted for by the end of the year.
- After the arrest of Laurent Gbagbo, dozens of his real or presumed supporters were arrested and detained arbitrarily. A number of military and police personnel were held in a Korhogo military camp, in reportedly life-threatening conditions. By the end of the year, some of these detainees had been released but others, including Simone Gbagbo, wife of the former President, had been charged with offences against state security and economic offences and were still held without trial.
Abuses by militias
Young patriots and
other pro-Gbagbo militias and Liberian mercenaries killed scores of people in
Abidjan as part of a pattern of reprisals and retribution against real or
perceived supporters of Alassane Ouattara.
- In May, Liberian mercenaries entered the village of Gobroko, near the town of Sassandra, and reportedly killed at least 23 Dioulas. Most were from neighbouring countries, including four from Nigeria, five from Mali, one from Benin and 10 from Burkina Faso.
Militias composed
especially of Dozos (traditional hunters) that supported Alassane Ouattara
killed and tortured real or presumed supporters of Laurent Gbagbo, notably
members of specific ethnic groups in the west of the country.
- In May, a group of Dozos attacked an encampment outside the village of Bédi-Goazon, 450 km west of Abidjan, killing four men and injuring many others.
Duékoué massacre
At the end of March
and beginning of April, several hundred civilians were unlawfully killed by
forces of both sides to the conflict in the town of Duékoué and surrounding
villages.
Liberian
mercenaries and militias loyal to Laurent Gbagbo killed a number of Dioulas
while entering compounds often inhabited by several families. After taking
control of Duékoué, the PRO-Ouattara FRCI, supported by Dozos and armed
elements in plain clothes, led a manhunt in the Quartier Carrefour area, where
the population was mainly Guérés. They entered the compounds, demanded money
and looted houses. Women and girls were made to leave and hundreds of men and
boys were summarily executed.
Violence against
women and girls
 |
| Arsene Akli was beaten by rebel soldiers for resisting rape of his wife |
Pro-Gbagbo militia
members raped women accused of supporting Alassane Ouattara, in some cases with
the involvement of security forces loyal to the former President. PRO-Ouattara
FRCI members were also responsible for rape and other crimes of sexual violence
against women and girls.
- In May, Laurence Banjneron, aged 27, was killed while resisting rape by FRCI soldiers in the village of Toulepleu, near the Liberian border. After killing her, a soldier reportedly later shot and killed her husband, Jean-Pierre Péhé, when he arrived to inquire about his wife.
A number of
journalists were arrested for their links with the former regime of Laurent
Gbagbo or for criticizing the new authorities.
- In July, Herman Aboa, a journalist from Radio Télévision Ivoirienne, was arrested and charged with endangering state security and incitement to racial hatred. He was released in December after the prosecution dropped all charges against him.
- In November, three journalists with the FPI newspaper Notre Voie, including the editor César Etou, were arrested and charged with incitement to theft, looting and destruction of the property of others through the press. They were released in December after a court dismissed the charges.
As a result of the
post-electoral violence and human rights violations and abuses, hundreds of
thousands of people fled their homes either to other parts of the country or to
neighbouring countries, notably Liberia. At the height of the crisis there were
more than one million refugees and internally displaced people. People
attempting to return home were often victims of violence and many found their
homes occupied by others. By the end of the year, more than 250,000 had not
returned home for fear of harassment or retaliation.
 |
| ICC Logo |
In October, the
Pre-Trial Chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) authorized an
investigation into crimes against humanity and war crimes perpetrated by both
sides in Côte d’Ivoire, limited to the post-electoral crisis since 28 November
2010. However, the Pre-Trial Chamber also asked the Prosecutor to present
information on potentially relevant crimes committed between 2002 and November
2010, when some of the most serious crimes took place. In response, the
Prosecutor detailed specific incidents that may also amount to crimes falling
under the jurisdiction of the ICC, including the use of child soldiers.
In October, during
a visit to Côte d’Ivoire, the ICC Prosecutor stated that between three and six
people carrying the greatest responsibility for crimes under international law
committed in Côte d’Ivoire would be investigated. In November, former President
Gbagbo was transferred to the ICC in The Hague, Netherlands, following the
issuing of an arrest warrant.
By Ajong Mbapndah
 |
| Mamadou Koulibaly |
He fought tooth and
nail to be President of Ivory Coast. Created a party, fought with three
Presidents, allied himself with an armed rebellion and for two years now he is
in power with a score card which impresses neither his opponents, nor some in
the international community who were among his ardent supporters.
Ivory Coast under President Alassane Ouattara has not made much progress says
Former National Assembly President and head of the Lider Political
party Prof Mamadou Koulibaly. With his predecessor Laurent Gbagbo facing trial at the ICC, Prof Mamadou Koulibaly has
emerged as the most acerbic critic of Ouattara and spares no efforts in
painting him as a leader who is incapable of resolving the complex problems
facing Ivory Coast. The security problems are acute, the reconciliation process
is stalled, unemployment is high, former elements of the rebellion are holding
Ouattara hostage and the human rights situation is not good, says Koulibaly in
his assessment of President Ouattara. Koulibaly who was victim of an accident
under questionable circumstances in the course of last year, lashes out at
Ouattara for double standards with a justice system that turns a blind eye to
excesses of his partisans. Coming out of a crisis, the foundation of the
Ivorian state is weak and if President Ouattara continues to act as a leader
who lives in fear and unable to control his armed militias, the country runs
the risk of degenerating into more chaos says Prof Koulibaly.
Q: Prof. Koulibaly, It is two years now with Alassane Ouattara
as president of the country, may we have an idea about how Côte d’Ivoire is
doing politically, socially and economically?
PK: Almost two years
in fact since Ouattara came to power. Confidence is still not restored between
him and the opposition, between him and the people who did not vote for him,
between him and the army, the gendarmerie, between him and all the components
of the FRCI (military) he has put in place and who have not stopped attacking
his regime and harassing him to the point of forcing him to be defense
minister. There is also a disappointment in him from the international
community which has not seen any improvement in the democracy his leadership was
expected to bring. So far, he has not yet established reconciliation, which has
been shifted to the back burner as he pursues the utopia of the emergent Ivory
Coast in 2020.
Economically, the crisis is only getting worse. Direct
foreign investment has reduced and promises of development assistance that were
made while he was still secluded at the Golf Hotel have not been met with the
arrival of fresh funds. Domestic and foreign private investors are skeptical
because of insecurity and corruption in the upper levels of government. The
jobs he promised are nowhere. In the face of rising unemployment, Ouattara has
resorted to catering more and more to the needs of his ethnic base. It is true
that there are a few public projects on infrastructure, but these are at
outrageous costs and in scandalous conditions.
Socially, numerous professional bodies are waiting for
Ouattara to fulfill his promise of higher wages. Students, who saw the
rehabilitation of their universities at exorbitant and outrageous costs, are waiting
to see the libraries open and equipped, as well as restaurants and laboratories
of science and technology. In the meantime, they just look at the cafeterias
and bars mounted by Ouattara’s friends on campus, where sandwiches and lunches
are sold at unaffordable prices, which brought about strikes by students,
preceded by that of teachers who are still waiting for the payment of their
entire overtime. The social atmosphere is especially marked by insecurity
brought about by the FRCI, the high cost of living, racketeering and
criminalization of the state.
 |
| Presidential Claimant Alhassan Quattara |
Q: Security remains a big challenge and there are reports of
human rights violations, where is the violence coming from and what is the
purpose?
Violence today is essentially caused by the FRCI. They are the
only ones who carry weapons and occupy the national territory, but normally are
in control of the areas of influence. Factions are fighting against each other
for control of sinecures, because the state does not pay them salaries. Left to
themselves, these fighters must survive by extortion, theft, assault and
violence. In order to have them with him during his ascension to power against
Gbagbo’s troops, Ouattara promised them jobs in the army, the gendarmerie and
the police. However these troops from the same ethnic groups have not been
successful, and lest they turn their arms against him, Ouattara asked them, as
well as supplementary Dozos (traditional hunters), to redeploy
across the country, in all the cities and villages, to ensure security. But
instead, we note that with their presence, theft and insecurity are rather on
the rise. These militias demand support from the people and are violent when
people do not respond favorably to their grievances. Côte d’Ivoire is living in
fear.
Q: What about efforts towards reconciliation, there is supposed
to be a reconciliation committee headed by Charles Konan Banny, has it served
any purpose?
PK The CDVR of Charles Konan Banny is run by
people of good faith, but who alas work under the authority of Ouattara
himself. He does not give the financial and political means to the commission
to make it effective. He gives the commission a two-year agenda for a
reconciliation, which a year and a half after, has not yet begun its work
seriously. The CDVR speaks of
reconciliation while Ouattara promotes injustice, impunity and the violence by
FRCI continues unabated. The reconciliation process is not credible and is
thwarted by Ouattara himself who does not seem in any hurry to get there.
We have also heard you decry the corruption that is taking place
under the present government, what facts do you have to back your accusations?
Corruption is rampant under Ouattara although it has
always existed in the various regimes that preceded his in Côte d’Ivoire. First
of all the justice system is totally corrupt while Ouattara has changed all the
main leaders of the judiciary and he himself is chairman of the Judiciary. He
can in this way pursue his main opponents of yesterday for economic crimes or
murder, but condones the crimes committed by his own men and the FAFN which has
since become the FRCI.
Ouattara undertakes numerous infrastructure projects, but
has never made public tenders for the award of contracts. Projects are
announced at an initial cost and then, month after month, we see the costs
increase without explanations. The most obvious is the rehabilitation of
universities, whose initial cost was about forty billion francs CFA, which then
increased to sixty and a hundred billion. At
this stage of a hundred billion, and with his council of
ministers, Ouattara discovered that the project had been over priced by at
least forty billion. As punishment, he dismissed the Director of Financial
Affairs of the Ministry of Higher Education, without touching the minister
himself who did not resign either. A few weeks later, the same minister informs
us that the actual cost of the project is rather one hundred and seventy-five
billion francs CFA and nothing was done to him. There is the case of this other
Minister, who is suspected of embezzling more than four billion francs CFA
destined to the victims of the toxic waste dumped in Abidjan by the Probo Koala
ship Trafigura a few years ago. The minister was ousted from government, but no
action taken against him, justice having found nothing to reproach him. They
are both members of parliament and want to become mayors of different cities in
Côte d’Ivoire. Cases of this kind exist in abundance.
 |
| Desire Tagro, President Gbagbo Minister tortured |
Q: Despite your strong criticisms against President Ouattara,
just to be fair to him, are there things you think he has done right to move
Côte d’Ivoire forward?
PK: Yes, you are
right. Abidjan became a little cleaner than under the previous regime. It is
true that the proposed third bridge in Abidjan, which was dragging from the
time of Houphouët-Boigny, saw
its construction undertaken by Ouattara. It is also true that in the city of
Abidjan, holes in the roads were clogged, especially in the upscale
neighborhood of Cocody. It is also noteworthy that Ouattara, after having
started his reign with forty government ministers, now scaled it down to 28
ministers. You see, he has worked and we do not forget it. But remember anyway,
in short, that the contract for the third bridge was concluded in totally
obscurity. Nobody knows what the exact cost is, or what financial and economic
guarantees the state is committed to for the next forty years. Neither the
public nor parliament was informed of these public contracts. In addition, the
roads in Abidjan are not the only roads in Côte d’Ivoire. There is the interior
of the country, for example the cocoa producing areas that have no roads and
yet strongly finance the state budget.
 |
| President Laurent Gbagbo |
You now head your own party, LIDER which did not do so well in
the last elections, how is the party doing and what role do you expect to play
in shaping a better future for Côte d’Ivoire?
LIDER went to the parliamentary elections in difficult
conditions on which we will not dwell. We left these elections without a single
elected candidate, even though we presented twelve candidates and we had just
arrived on the political scene for just four months. We saw and warned Ouattara
against the violation of Additional Protocol No. 2 of the ECOWAS Treaty
prohibiting all member governments of the organization from changing the rules
of the electoral process less than 6 months before the election date, no matter
the type of election, without a broad consensus with the entire political
class. Ouattara has shamelessly violated with impunity this provision of
ECOWAS.
LIDER, in a responsible way, continues its ascent through
the installation of party bases around the country and without great means for
the moment. We aim to build a real opposition to challenge the power of
Ouattara. We believe that people must understand that democracy is not
multipartism and elections. Democracy is first of all a state of law, not in
the sense of a government emerging from elections, a legal government, but a
state, a situation in which the law applies to everyone, starting with the
state itself and its leaders. We explain to people that multipartism does not
mean having parties that act as unions for ethnic groups. We explain to
politicians and our activists that democracy is first of all to recognize the
inalienable rights of the private ownership of land in their country, and the
freedom to exchange these lands. We believe that if LIDER succeeds in being
heard on these issues, then we will have achieved our goal of education about
democracy, social harmony and peace.
Q: In the course of last year you were a victim of several
accidents etc. Were these just routine accidents or you read something behind
this since you are a strong opponent of the regime?
PK: I still cannot
explain the cause of this accident, but I find it curious that the government
of Ouattara, which divided the country into official military zones controlled
by the informal com-zones and com-sectors, goes to attack my family, my farm
and my workers under the pretext that there was a training camp of
anti-Ouattara militias in my village. I find it curious that there has been no
serious investigation after these events and that the police and the Chief of
General Staff of the armed forces have refused to receive complaints from my
parents against the warriors of the pro- Ouattara militia called the FRCI. I
find it disturbing that at the same time, the government is trying to portray
me as a criminal, when I am the victim.
Q: Former President Laurent Gbagbo is due for trial at the ICC
but we have not heard about warrants for those who were in the rebellion, what
is your take on this as well as the continuous detention of many high profile
activists and government officials?
PK: Ouattara applies a
justice of variable geometry. A justice system which imprisons criminals of the
defeated side and demands accounts and one that promotes criminals in his own
camp and condones their wrongdoing. It is difficult in these conditions to
build a nation, to reconcile and to build confidence in Côte d’Ivoire. By this
attitude, Ouattara ensures the criminalization of the state. And our eyes are
turned towards the ICC, to know whether it will be an accomplice or not in this
local justice which is more of revenge than justice.
 |
| French President Francois Hollande |
Q: You have written in the past about defense accords
between African countries and the French, can you talk about this briefly especially
in light of the crisis in Mali, and most recently Central Africa? How relevant
are these accords?
PK: In modern
economies, when states engage in this type of international agreements, people
are informed of the content of these treaties and conventions. Civil society
and parliamentarians discuss about them, so that people know what their
government is engaged in. Sometimes we proceed by referendum to ratify such an
agreement. This is the procedure in place in developed societies. But in
African societies, only the President of the Republic and sometimes some
members of the government are contacted and informed about the content of these
agreements. The public remains in ignorance, parliament also, as well as the
press. These are societies of distrust, patrimonial societies. And when a shock
happens and the agreements must be implemented, the people do not understand
it. Mali, like most African states is not viable individually. Our countries
would be stronger and more viable if they were integrated into a federal
structure. Each country would have a head of state elected according to the
parliamentary system, and all states would be subject to a federal government
which is also a product of a parliamentary system, following parliamentary
elections after a one round majority vote, according to the Westminster model
in Great Britain. Without this reform, there is no happy and harmonious future
for African countries. Mali is a case study which shows that, despite all our
elections, our governments, our armies, our narrow nationalism, all our
countries and their institutions can collapse overnight without any internal
forces capable of remedying the situation. We also see the same scenario in
Côte d’Ivoire, where there is no more a state. It is a potential risk for all
African countries. You saw what happened with President Bozizé’s call for help
to Paris, and the response of President Hollande. We must become free men and
regain confidence in ourselves and our neighbors and proceed with the
construction of this African federalism. It is in the interest of our
collective security, development, prosperity and peace. These defense
agreements are nothing but loosely tied trade agreements. They serve as
something else other than the defense of countries and their populations. We
can do without them, if we reduce the risk of conflict in our countries. And
for that, we have great untapped potentials.
 |
| Desire Tagro Interior Minister under President Gbagbo |
Q: We know it is still very challenging for Côte d’Ivoire, what
are some of the reasons that should give people a reason to hope and what is
your prediction for the future?
PK: I have no crystal ball to predict the future of Côte
d’Ivoire, but if the criminalization of the state remains the trend that we see
right now, I fear that the year 2013 is going to be more difficult than 2012.
If reconciliation does not make progress, if justice is not restored, if
Ouattara continues to take people hostage with his armed tribal factions
deployed throughout the country, I fear that economic activity will remain
stifled and unemployment and difficulties of all kinds will increase. If the
regime’s corruption continues to grow, and if impunity continues to be the
norm, I fear that the foundations of our nation which are still fragile will
cave to violence and chaos. But at the beginning of 2013, I wish that Ouattara
would become aware of his responsibilities and fully assume them ,without
presenting himself to us as someone who is unable to control his armed militia
and who lives in perpetual fear, even though he is the President of the Republic.
Clashes in the West of Ivory Coast,
According to information in our possession, there has been intense fighting since last weekend, between unknown armed groups and Ouattara’s militia FRCI.
Former governmental forces (loyal to Gbagbo) were sent there, but not having shown their determination to fight, it was necessary to send a reinforcement of the Ouattara militia.
We noticed the different figures given by the
Ivorian officials as regards the balance sheet of the fights between the
EX-FRCI and the coalition UNOCI-FRCI (ivorian army) . As we pointed out, the
only number that remained constant since
last Friday, was the number of blue berets fallen on the field: They are.
- Lt. Sahabi Dan Sanda, aged 49, married and
father of three;
- Sergeant Hassane Amadou Sanda, 39, married and
father of four;
- Sergeant Housseini Mounkaila, 32, married and
father of two;
- Sergeant Haboubacar Djibo, 27, single;
- Corporal Soumaila Oubandawaki Na Allah, 27,
married;
- Corporal Mahamadou Maman, 41, married and
father of three;
- Private First Class, Boubacar Abdou Zoranto,
26, married.
As for the number of dead FRCI, their number varies according to
the day. As an example, in the daytime after the attack that is on Saturday,
June 09th, 2012, in seven published newspapers, none mentioned civilians killed.
All except SOIR-INFO (which spoke about 3 deaths FRCI) spoke about 5 deaths
(provisional assessment) among the FRCI.
But yesterday the newspapers close to the power of Ouattara
began to speak about killed civilians and miraculously revised downwards the
losses among the FRCI.
From Friday, June 8th, 2012 to the night of Monday, June 11th,
the coalition FRCI-UNOCI underwent hard lapels in the West of Ivory Coast.
According to one of our sources which wanted to remain anonymous, it would have
had forty one ( 41 ) soldiers dressed in uniforms of the UNOCI among the
soldiers fallen in the West.
These forty one soldiers in uniforms of United Nations were not
naturally all peacekeepers. Because as we already announced it in a publication
of yesterday, several members of FRCI go to the front dressed in uniforms of
United Nations. And with the complicity of certain unreliable officials of the
UNO in Ivory Coast who supply them uniforms and everything that goes with it.
It has to be underlined that the people in the TAI forest, aware
of this small detail decided not to take chances. Blue Berets or not, their
only objective was to prevent people they considered as intruders to make
approach to the forest.
Having the complete mastery of the terrain, the fighters of TAI
forest did not venture far from their bases, preferring to wait on the spot. How
long they could resist was a question. Then the offensive began, led by the
FRCI with the support of the French LICORNE forces and blue berets of United
Nations. But like in the Vietnam War, in which hidden in their jungle, the
Vietminh managed to undo alternately the French and the Americans, they could
also plan for the new war of TAI forest
for the long months of bitter fighting to chase away the former FRCI.
Meanwhile the troops of United Nations having managed to escape
the fighters of TAI, took refuge in Daloa, awaiting for reinforcements which they
expected to arrive on the Fr
By Kwasi Adu
 |
| President John Mahama |
Information reaching
Ghana that an Ivoirian who sought political asylum in Ghana for fear of persecution
in Cote d’Ivoire has been murdered by Ouattara’s security agencies should be
worrying to all adherents of human rights, rule of law in Ghana and
international law.
Ghana is a signatory
to the 1951 United Nations Convention on the Status of Refugees and the 1967
Protocol to the Convention. Under the Convention, any person who, owing to
well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion,
nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is
outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is
unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country; is entitled to be
granted residency in a second country.
In the wake of, and
following the civil war in Cote d’Ivoire, several Ivoirians who worked with or
supported the Gbagbo regime sought asylum in Ghana and other West African
countries, including Liberia, Mali and Guinea. All such people are entitled to
protection both under the UN Convention, and the laws of Ghana.
Currently in
Cote d’Ivoire, the Ouattara regime has continued in its campaign of persecution
of political opponents, including extra-judicial killings. It is even chilling
to note that some of the Ouattara Commanders in his rebel army, who have been
indicted by the UN Security Council as war criminals, have been promoted to
continue the killings and persecution of political opponents. Even hitherto
leading pro-Gbagbo supporters, who have since left Gbagbo’s Ivorian Popular
Front (FPI)
Party and formed their own parties are being
persecuted. For example, Prof. Mamadou Koulibaly, who now heads the Liberté
et Démocratie pour la République (LIDER) has been a victim of several
assassination attempts in 2012, including
car accidents under questionable circumstances. Those who are not so
well-known are just killed and buried in a mass grave.
 |
| Late President Mills believed Ghana Must Not Interfere |
Within the last month alone, the Ghana Government
has grabbed and handed over to Ouattara, at least two Ivoirian refugees who
were in Ghana. The Ghana government did not follow any due process in
accordance with our extradition laws or international law. There should have
been a trial in our courts to determine whether they qualified to be
extradited. In any case, there is no evidence that Ghana has an extradition
Treaty with Cote d’Ivoire.
We as a country are behaving like vigilantes in the
old American Wild West when they captured people for bounties.
This behavior of the Ghana government is not
surprising. In December 2010, I wrote an article on the Cote d’Ivoire conflict
in The Insight in which I stated that there was a section among the Ghanaian
political class who see the conflict in Cote d’Ivoire as an ethnic fight
between Northerners and Southerners. I wrote: “For these people, they consider
that any argument between a person from below the 8 degrees latitude and
another from above the 8 degrees latitude as an ethnic dispute over which they
would be prepared to go to war. They are made up of people with sectarian views
whose natural instinct is to support Ouattara for reason of sectarian and
ethnic affinity”. It was therefore not surprising that the then Ghana Foreign
Minister, Mohammed Mumuni, had a different policy on Cote d’Ivoire from
President Mills.
If this is not the same reason behind the current
rushed deportations, someone should explain why we are doing that.
We cannot be surrendering people to be slaughtered
by a regime that in spite of claims about reconciliation, is no mood to even
offer due process to its opponents.
 |
| More Victims are being tortured |
In 2012, Alassane Ouattara promoted to the position
of Army Commander, a former corporal of Ouattara’s New Forces, called Fofié
Martin Kouakou, who had been indicted by the UN Security Council as a war
criminal, having committed atrocities, including “recruiting and using child
soldiers, abductions, imposition of forced labour, sexual abuse of women,
arbitrary arrests extra-judicial killings, contrary to human rights
conventions and to international humanitarian law” . A report on Cote d’Ivoire by Human Rights Watch
in 2011 gave an insight into the real character of Fofié Martin Kouakou.
A soldier in his “Guépard Company” told Human
Rights Watch that Fofié himself
ordered the execution of 29 prisoners in early May 2011, on a day when he
was furious at having lost several soldiers in fighting. He was the longtime Forces
Nouvelles commander in Bouaké and also known as “The Terror of
Korhogo”. When Gbagbo was arrested, he was imprisoned in Korhogo and put under
the direct supervision of Fofié, who subjected him to inhuman treatment till he
was transferred to The Hague.
According to a report by the medical expert,
appointed by the Gbagbo’s Defence Team, (dated March 31, 2012), Gbagbo’s
detention conditions “must be considered
as a type of ill-treatment. They included physical abuses and torture and
solitary confinement. The alarming health of President Gbagbo results from a
treatment which must be considered as one of ill-treatment and even torture”.
Kofi Annan and Desmond Tutu visiting Gbagbo in a house in Korhogo
specially arranged for the visit.
These days, with the connivance of roguish UN
Commanders, Ouattara’s murder squads get supplied with UN Peacekeepers’
uniforms who parade villages where they slaughter people considered as Gbagbo’s
supporters.
In June 2012, one group of such UN-dressed Ouattara murder squads who had gone to the
West Cote d’Ivoire, on a murder mission were confronted in the TAI Forest by a
group of pro-Gbagbo villagers who fired back at them. At the end of the battle,
41 Ivoirian “UN” soldiers lay dead. When the UN officers went to indentify the
dead bodies, they found out that most of the dead were Ivoirians in UN
uniforms.
Some of the dead “UN” soldiers included: Lt. Sahabi Dan Sanda, aged 49, married and
father of three; Sergeant Hassane Amadou Sanda, 39, married and father of four;
Sergeant Housseini Mounkaila, 32, married and father of two; Sergeant
Haboubacar Djibo, 27, single; Corporal Soumaila Oubandawaki Na Allah, 27,
married; Corporal Mahamadou Maman, 41, married and father of three; and Private
First Class, Boubacar Abdou Zoranto, 26, married. They were all Ivoirians.
This is the regime that is being supported by our
government to murder refugees in our name. In the meantime, all the Ghanaian
human rights activists are dead silent.
Young Comrades for Better Ghana Agenda congratulate
JDM
We the entire
membership of the Young Comrades For Better Ghana (Y.C.B.G) in Trubu
Constituency takes the opportunity to congratulate His Excellency President
John Dramani Mahama on his election and assumption of President of Ghana.
We strongly support
the appointment and ministerial nominations you have made so far and believed
these people will help you and the NDC to continue the Better Ghana Agenda.
We also wish to
congratulate the able leadership of the NDC especially Dr. Kwabena Adjei the
party chairman, and Mr. Aseidu Nketia the general secretary respectively etc
for leading the party to this unprecedented victory for 2012.
We the members of
this group realized that, considering the actions of our opponent with regards
to our victory there is going to be a lot of work to be done between now and 2016.
For this and other
reasons, we have decided as soon as possible to start going around some
communities nationwide to explain some government policies and actions to our
people.
We pray that the good
Lord protect us and bless our home land Ghana.
Long Live JDM, long
live
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