"October 2011"--Table of contents page and spine. Also available via the World Wide Web. Includes bibliographical references. "This report was authored by Matt Wells, West Africa researcher, and Corinne Dufka, senior West Africa researcher"--P. 128.
Contents:
Maps -- Summary -- Recommendations -- Methodology -- Background -- From Independence to the 2000 Elections -- Armed conflict and political-military stalemate -- Peace Agreements and Peacekeepers -- 2010 Elections and Immediate Aftermath -- I. Initial Post-Election Violence: November 2010-January 2011 -- Pro-Gbagbo Forces -- Excessive Use of Force against Demonstrators -- Targeted Killings and Enforced Disappearances of Pro-Ouattara Activists -- Killings of Perceived Opponents by Pro-Gbagbo Militia -- Sexual Violence -- Pro-Ouattara Forces in the North -- II. Toward Active Conflict: February to mid-March 2010 -- Pro-Gbagbo Forces -- Incitement to Violence by the Gbagbo Camp -- Targeted Violence against West African Immigrants in Abidjan -- Attacks on Mosques, Muslims, and Imams -- Targeted Rape and Enforced Disappearances of Ouattara Supporters -- Violent Suppression of Demonstrations -- Pro-Ouattara Forces -- Civilian Killings in Anonkoua Village -- Summary Executions of Detained Gbagbo Fighters -- III. Full-Scale Armed Conflict: mid-March-May 2011 -- Pro-Gbagbo Forces -- Killings, Massacres in Far West -- Indiscriminate Shelling in Abidjan -- Widespread Ethnic Killings and Rapes in Abidjan -- Republican Forces Military Offensive -- Killings, Rape, and Pillage in the Far West -- Summary Executions of Detained Civilians, Primarily the Elderly -- Rape and other Sexual Violence -- Duékoué Massacre Involving Republican Forces -- Final Battle for Abidjan and Subsequent Weeks -- IV. Key Leaders Implicated -- Gbagbo Camp -- Ouattara Camp -- Not Formally Aligned -- V. Accountability -- Commissions of Inquiry -- Domestic Prosecutions against Gbagbo Camp -- No Domestic Procedures against Republican Forces Soldiers -- International Criminal Court -- Dialogue, Truth, and Reconciliation Commission -- Conclusion -- Annex: Letters to the International Criminal Court -- Acknowledgements -- Glossary of Acronyms.
Summary:
"For six months, Côte d'Ivoire residents endured horrific human rights abuses following the refusal of incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo to relinquish power when the country's electoral commission and international observers declared his opponent, Alassane Ouattara, the winner of the November 28, 2010, run-off election. Months after the April 11 arrest of Gbagbo by Ouattara's armed forces, the prospect of one-sided justice threatens to prolong the country's divisions and impede the reestablishment of the rule of law. In the election's aftermath, Gbagbo's elite security forces unleashed a systematic campaign of violence against real and perceived Ouattara supporters, including through the violent suppression of demonstrations, the abduction and killing of neighborhood political leaders, and the rape of women and girls. As the Gbagbo government-controlled media incited hate against pro-Ouattara groups, Gbagbo's militias stopped them at checkpoints or attacked them in their neighborhoods, beating them to death, shooting them, or burning them alive. Three months after Gbagbo refused to cede power, pro-Ouattara forces--largely the former rebel army of his prime minister, Guillaume Soro--launched an offensive to remove Gbagbo from power. In sweeping the country, these forces often inflicted a collective punishment against pro-Gbagbo ethnic groups through widespread executions, torture, and the burning of villages. By the fighting's end in mid-May 2011, at least 3,000 people had been killed and more than 150 women raped, often in targeted acts perpetrated along political, ethnic, and religious lines. Based on six field missions to Côte d'Ivoire between December 2010 and July 2011 and over 500 interviews with victims and witnesses to the violence, this report documents crimes that reach the level of war crimes and likely crimes against humanity. The report further identifies 13 military and political leaders implicated in grave crimes either directly or through command responsibility, based on the accumulated evidence. It also details the failure, thus far, of the Ouattara government to ensure that perpetrators from both sides of the conflict are brought to justice for abuses they perpetrated"--P. [4] of cover.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.