Côte d'Ivoire: "Uncertainty plagues the daily lives of the people"

Has expired since the ultimatum set by the Gbagbo camp - Charles Ble Goude (Young Patriots leader, pro-Gbagbo) had threatened to resume the Hotel du Golf, where the government has cut Ouattara - the situation seems have calmed down in Abidjan. But "fear of an explosion of violence is latent. Abidjan is the capital of the rumors," said a French UN employee (who wishes to remain anonymous) returned in late December as a result of the many anti-UN statements Laurent Gbagbo.

The uncertainty is such in the country that the situation in Abidjan can change overnight. "Where demonstrations or marches are planned in Abidjan is transformed into a ghost town, but once the situation calms down, life is returning, the streets and markets are black people," he says. "People are afraid," says Salvatore Sagues, a researcher for Amnesty International in Paris, a specialist in West Africa and Côte d'Ivoire.

Since the crisis began, the NGO is regularly contacted by Ivorian victims or witnesses of violations of human rights. "In the north, the Dioula people (ethnicity of Alassane Ouattara) live in fear," he says. "Since the march on 16 December, they organized vigils at night, prevent the arrival of prowlers in banging pots against each other.

The police are acquired to Gbagbo, and the presence of militias and mercenaries contributes to the feeling of insecurity. "This crisis shakes a little more food security in Côte d'Ivoire, already seriously affected by malnutrition. "In the North, farmers are afraid to go to the fields, said the employee of the UN, which could affect crops." Much of the food sold in Côte d'Ivoire has Burkina Faso, said Salvatore Sagues, but with traffic restrictions, the trucks are no longer able to and Ivorians face a significant increase in food prices.

"Blocking roads also affect the situation country's health. "All deliveries from the central pharmacy of Abidjan have been stopped", said Gaëlle Bausson, spokeswoman for UNICEF in West Africa and Central, based in Dakar, with potentially very serious consequences: a yellow fever epidemic has killed at least seven deaths in the country.

Another key concern for UNICEF: absenteeism in schools. Frightened, a number of parents no longer send their children to school , likely the latter, idle, are enlisted by one or other of the two camps. For UNICEF, the refugee situation is most worrying. "Twenty thousand people have refugee status and settled in Liberia," said Gaelle Bausson, "but are probably 25 000 to 30 000 to cross the border." Of those, 75% are women (many of whom have experienced sexual violence) and children who have special needs.

"They arrive in a state of fatigue and sometimes severe malnutrition, and settle in a country whose resources are already weak," she says. Internal population movements have also grown. "In the worst scenario, 150,000 people could seek refuge in neighboring countries and 450,000 people could be displaced within the country, mainly to the north to escape the violence," she adds.

The fear is palpable abuses, Salvatore Sagues alarmed yet. "Most disturbing are the arrests and disappearance suspicious," he says. "Following the march of 16 December [Ouattara's supporters had marched towards the State television, controlled by Gbagbo's camp], a number of people - impossible to quantify - were arrested and taken to the police headquarters in Abidjan.

We have recently learned that three of them were abducted in their cells and are now found. " In the streets of Abidjan, the rumors never stop spreading. For several days, scary stories of "marking" of moving houses: the partisans of one side or the other patrolling neighborhoods in marking the doors of the houses of letters denoting membership of the owner of an ethnic or a political party, making them potential targets for retaliation.

The seriousness of these incidents, taken in the media, is difficult to assess. The website "The Observers" France 24, which calls on Ivorians to testify, has devoted a section that has subsequently been widely commented by the Internet: A number of them explain that this labeling has nothing to do with "sightings" conducted by both sides, but they correspond to indications of everyday life: for example, a "D" painted on a door simply mean "demolish" and not "Dioula" .

Amnesty International, there is indeed a phenomenon extremely difficult to verify. "While it remains very marginal," said Salvatore Sagues. Audrey Fournier

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Côte d'Ivoire (geolocation)  Côte d'Ivoire (wikipedia)