UNITED NATIONS staff in Ivory Coast yesterday found more than 100 bodies in the west of the country, a discovery that overshadowed attempts by president-elect Alassane Ouattara to assert his leadership.
News that 115 bodies were found in three western towns, with some of the victims burned alive and others thrown down a well, came less than a week after the International Committee of the Red Cross said about 800 people were killed in a massacre in the town of Duékoué, near the Liberian border.
A UN spokesman in Geneva said it was hard to say who was responsible, as long-running ethnic tensions had grown alongside fighting between forces loyal to presidential claimant Mr Ouattara and those of rival Laurent Gbagbo.
However, he said the victims in Duékoué appeared to be from the Guere ethnic group supporting Mr Gbagbo, and that the killings took place when fighters loyal to Mr Ouattara took control of the town in their advance south.
“With these very ugly tit-for-tat killings in Duékoué . . . 100 more bodies found just yesterday, you’re talking about quite an escalation,” the spokesman said, adding the murders appeared to have been in retaliation for the mid-March killing of 100 by pro-Gbagbo forces in the same town.
In the commercial capital, Abidjan, Mr Gbagbo remained holed up in his residence, refusing to step down despite Mr Ouattara’s forces taking control of the country and surrounding his compound. Mr Ouattara said his soldiers had blockaded Mr Gbagbo in the residence, but witnesses told news agencies the outgoing president’s youth militias were still roaming freely and sporadic gunfire rang out yesterday afternoon.
In a speech on national television, Mr Ouattara said he would seek to restore security and basic services and would pursue investigations into reported serious abuses by both sides’ troops.
Mr Ouattara won a presidential election last November by eight percentage points, according to UN-certified results, but Mr Gbagbo rejected the outcome, claiming fraud. Aid workers estimate one million have been displaced by the fighting over the past four months, and some 150,000 have fled the country.
Mr Ouattara said steps would be taken to shed light on all crimes during the conflict and he would collaborate with international organisations to investigate human rights abuses and punish those found guilty.
“We have established a national commission of inquiry whose findings will be made public and the perpetrators of crimes will be severely punished.” He pledged to revive the cocoa sector, Ivory Coast’s economic engine, which has been paralysed by EU shipping restrictions since January.
Following a request by Mr Ouattara, the EU yesterday eased sanctions on four entities, including two ports.
As residents of Abidjan were beginning to venture outdoors, a commander for the French military force in Ivory Coast said its troops would carry out mixed patrols with police and gendarmesnow loyal to Mr Ouattara to restore security and rebuild infrastructure.