Amnesty International Report 2017/18

136

Amnesty International Report 2017/18

André Okombi Salissa, former member of the 

National Assembly and president of CADD, 

was arrested and detained at the General 

Directorate of Territorial Surveillance after 

spending almost a year in hiding.

Also in January, Noël Mienanzambi Boyi, 

president of the Association for the Culture of 

Peace and Non-Violence and a broadcaster 

for a community radio station, was arrested in 

Kinkala, the main town in Pool. The 

authorities claimed that he was transporting 

medicine and food to Reverend Ntumi, and 

charged him with “complicity in undermining 

state security”. Local NGOs said that he was 

arrested after he agreed to organize 

mediation between the authorities and 

Reverend Ntumi on the government’s 

request. They also alleged that he was 

tortured in various detention centres before 

being transferred to Brazzaville central prison 

in June where he remained at the end of the 

year.

TORTURE AND OTHER ILL-TREATMENT

Several cases of torture and other ill-

treatment by security services were reported. 

No investigations or judicial proceedings into 

these allegations were conducted by the 

authorities.

On 24 January, Modeste Boukadia, 

president of the opposition Congolese Circle 

of Democrats and Republicans, was admitted 

to Clinique Guénin in Pointe Noire city as a 

result of injuries he sustained when prison 

guards beat him at Pointe Noire prison in 

November 2016. The beating resulted in two 

fractured bones, and caused him to have 

high blood pressure and a heart condition.

INTERNALLY DISPLACED PEOPLE

Following fighting between government forces 

and the Ninjas armed group, around a third 

of residents in Pool fled their homes. An 

estimated 81,000 people were IDPs; 59,000 

of them were registered displaced in 2017. 

IDPs were in dire need of shelter, food, water, 

basic health services and adequate 

sanitation. They were forced to live with 

families in host communities, on church 

grounds, in public buildings, or in 

overcrowded makeshift sites.

REFUGEES AND ASYLUM-SEEKERS

The refugee status of around 10,000 

Rwandan refugees expired on 31 December, 

under the Cessation Clause for Rwandan 

refugees, on the grounds that Rwanda was a 

safe country. Some of the refugees may be 

permitted to choose between voluntary 

repatriation and residency in their host 

countries, or otherwise retain their refugee 

status if they fulfill certain criteria.

RIGHT TO FOOD

According to the UN, 138,000 people in Pool 

required humanitarian assistance, and over 

50% of families were food insecure.

Global Acute Malnutrition − the 

measurement of the nutritional status of 

those in long-term refugee situations – 

affected between 17.3 and 20.4% of IDP 

children aged under five who fled from Pool.

CÔTE D’IVOIRE

Republic of Côte d’Ivoire

Head of state: Alassane Dramane Ouattara

Head of government: Amadou Gon Coulibaly (replaced 

Daniel Kablan Duncan in January)

Around 200 detainees, loyal to former 

President Laurent Gbagbo, awaited trial in 

connection with post-electoral violence in 

2010 and 2011. Killings in the context of 

mutinies and clashes between demobilized 

soldiers and security forces were 

uninvestigated. The rights to freedom of 

expression, association and peaceful 

assembly were restricted; some protests 

were prohibited. Simone Gbagbo, wife of 

former President Gbagbo, was acquitted of 

crimes against humanity and war crimes. 

The ICC tried Laurent Gbagbo and Charles 

Blé Goudé.

BACKGROUND

The UN Operation in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI) 

concluded its mission in June, 13 years after 

---

Amnesty International Report 2017/18

137

its establishment by the UN Security Council. 

The UN Independent Expert praised Côte 

d’Ivoire’s gradual progress towards national 

reconciliation and stability which, he warned, 

was fragile given the unrest in January.

The government launched an investigation, 

supported by UN investigators, into the 

discovery of an arms cache in a house owned 

by a close aide of the President of the 

National Assembly.

In July, there were several attacks by armed 

groups. Three soldiers were killed when 

armed men attacked a military camp in 

Korhogo in the north.

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION

Legislation which contained provisions that 

curtailed the right to freedom of expression, 

including in relation to defamation, offending 

the President and disseminating false news, 

was adopted.

In February, six journalists were detained for 

two days in the city of Abidjan, accused of 

divulging false information on army mutinies. 

They were not charged but continued to be 

summoned by authorities for questioning.

In August, two Le Quotidien journalists were 

arrested over an article they wrote about the 

National Assembly President’s finances.

FREEDOMS OF ASSOCIATION AND 

ASSEMBLY

In February, the police used tear gas and 

rubber bullets to repress a peaceful protest 

by cocoa planters and National Agricultural 

Union members in Abidjan.

In July, demobilized soldiers held peaceful 

protests in Bouaké city calling on the 

government to deliver on promises made 

after protests in May (see below). Amadou 

Ouattara, Mégbè Diomandé and Lassina 

Doumbia, members of “Cellule 39” (an 

association of demobilized soldiers), were 

arrested and charged with public disorder 

and organizing an unauthorized protest.

At least 40 students were arrested in 

September after FESCI (Fédération 

estudiantine et scolaire de Côte d’Ivoire) 

organized protests across the country against 

police violence and increased university fees. 

One student said the police arrested her with 

her friends in her room, and beat her. Some 

of those arrested had thrown stones at the 

police, but others were peaceful. All were 

charged with disruption of public order and 

provisionally released after 20 days.

IMPUNITY

People suspected of supporting former 

President Gbagbo were tried for human rights 

violations committed during and after the 

2010 election. In contrast, none of President 

Ouattara’s supporters were arrested or tried 

in connection with human rights violations.

In May Simone Gbagbo was acquitted of 

crimes against humanity and war crimes by 

the Assize Court of Abidjan. Victims of 

human rights violations were denied their 

legal right to participate in the hearing. New 

lawyers, appointed by the head of the bar 

after her lawyers withdrew in 2016, also 

pulled out in March saying the Court was 

irregularly constituted because a judge was 

appointed after the trial had begun.

Around 200 supporters of Laurent Gbagbo, 

arrested since 2011 for crimes allegedly 

committed during the post-electoral violence, 

were still detained awaiting trial. Two of them 

− Assi Jean Kouatchi and Bonfils Todé – died 

in custody in 2017.

Some detainees were provisionally released 

and awaited trial. They included Antoinette 

Meho, a member of civil society organization 

Solidarité Wé, released in May. She was 

charged with undermining state security. In 

December Hubert Oulaye, a former minister 

who was provisionally released in June, and 

Maurice Djire, were sentenced to 20 years in 

prison for the murder of, and complicity in 

the murder of, UN soldiers in 2012. Despite 

defence lawyers’ requests, the court did not 

provide testimonies from two prosecution 

witnesses during their trial.

In July, Adou Assoa, another former 

minister was sentenced to four years’ 

imprisonment for public disorder but cleared 

of charges of undermining state security.

David Samba, opposition activist and 

president of the NGO Coalition des Indignés 

de Côte d’Ivoire, completed his six-month 

---