Côte d'Ivoire: a report of ICG condemns the criminalization of the Ivorian army

Côte d'Ivoire: a report of ICG condemns the criminalization of the Ivorian army

19/12/2011 at 15h: By André Silver Konan 41
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The IGC points to the activities of the commander Issiaka Ouattara. The IGC points to the activities of the commander Issiaka Ouattara. © SIPA

The latest report of International Crisis Group (ICG) is somewhat overwhelming for the Republican Forces of Côte d'Ivoire (FRCI). The international NGO denounces criminalization of the army and calls on President Alassane Ouattara to assert its leadership on the issue of security in Côte d'Ivoire.

Racketeering, trafficking in stolen cars towards the neighboring countries of Cote d'Ivoire, indiscipline, criminalization, mafia. Almost all the ills spend. In this report released in Dakar and Brussels, Friday, December 16, entitled "Ivory Coast: Continue convalescence," ICG calls Alassane Ouattara to take its responsibilities to slippages FRCI. "The President of the Republic, the report recommends, should play a more active role in resolving public safety issues.

It will particularly apply to all combatants civilians who fought to uphold their legitimate right to his current role. " ICG fears that the army reform promised by the Head of State is "wrong" because of the excessive involvement of Guillaume Soro, Prime Minister and patron of the former Armed Forces of the Forces Nouvelles (FAFN, former rebel) described as "judge and jury."

Former authoritarian comzones

For ICG, the evils that undermine FRCI require urgent responses. And one of these evils is the discipline related to the overwhelming authority of the former comzones (FAFN zone commanders). "The military hierarchy is not always respected in a security apparatus which is traversed by several chains of command, the report said. The men from the FN keep the upper hand over the items from the old regular forces. The military leaders of the rebellion, some of which were raised to high rank, have kept their men around them the most loyal and most experienced. These have not been allocated to other units of FRCI and are autonomous entities that elude traditional hierarchy. " Consequences, including: "Men who are attached to the service of the former zone commanders often refuse to acknowledge or obey the orders of senior officers, who belonged to the SDS (Defence Forces and security, Ed) before the post-election crisis ".

The 21-page report points to an area commander particular Issiaka Ouattara, alias Watao. "A lot fewer, other elements of the FRCI engage in criminal activities on a larger scale, in a more structurally controlled by former military leaders of the FN trying to perpetuate the system that Mafia made their fortunes in zone CNO (Centre-Northwest former besieged areas, Ed). Issiaka Ouattara, alias Wattao, and his men are considered the main responsible for this robbery. " The NGO is however clear that the former "comzone" promoted to deputy commander of the Republican Guard by Ouattara, "rejects these accusations."

Criminalization of the army

Other former "comzones" not specifically named are pinned by the report. Indeed, ICG revealed that "tens of millions of francs CFA that some former" comzones "continue to win monthly enabling them to maintain personal and militias to resist the pressure from the government so that they fall into line. Thus in the economic capital, foreign companies are subject to extortion by elements claiming to FRCI. Individuals are obliged to pay to protect their stores or their homes. This racket is often done with a political alibi: the authors highlight the membership of their victim to the camp of Laurent Gbagbo to justify their actions. "

In general, the report criticizes the criminalization of the Ivorian army, or what amounts to the Ivorian army. "A mass of armed men still revolves around the FRCI without anyone knowing if they are part or not, says ICG. The integration of members of the FN 9000, under the Ouagadougou Political Agreement (OPA), has not yet taken place, and it is very difficult to know who among them is whether the new army . There is also a great unknown: the number and identity of "voluntary" and other civilian fighters "involved in the conflict" who joined the FRCI during or just after the offensive of March and April 2011. Their number is still very unclear.

Always armed, they are central to the problem of criminalization of the security forces or elements that are related. A large majority of these volunteers received no pay and engaged in a crime of survival. " A crime including trafficking so that "car thefts are still many in Abidjan. Some of these flights on international routes supplies of luxury cars which has the main relay the city of Bouake and then passes through Mali and Burkina Faso. "

ICG concluded that "the Ivorian authorities would be wrong to think that the long political and military crisis is now over. Without translation into action of significant messages of reconciliation, without political opposition represented in the institutions without a court worthy of the name and security apparatus in the service of all citizens, the same causes produce the same effects in the long term. "

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