Crisis in Côte d'Ivoire Situation Report 18 Dec 2002

MILITARY / POLITICAL SITUATION
The emergence of two new rebel groups in western Côte d'Ivoire on 28 November has exacerbated an already tense situation. The MPIGO (Movement Populaire Ivoirien du Grand Ouest) and MPJ (Movement pour la Paix et la Justice) respectively are active in the southwestern portion of the country extending roughly from the town of Touba, close to the border with Guinea, to the town of Toulepleu, close to the Liberian border. Fighting between these groups and Government forces in the cities and surrounding areas of Man, Danané, Touba and Toulepleu has caused massive displacement. Government forces have retaken the city of Man, but the area remains highly unstable.

At the time of writing of this report, the demarcation line separating the MPCI-controlled north and the Government-controlled south of the country, monitored by French armed forces, remained unchanged.

A statement issued on 13 December in New York by Kenzo Oshima, the UN Under-Secretary for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, voices grave concern over the worsening humanitarian conditions on the people of both Côte d'Ivoire and neighboring countries. Of particular concern are: the near impossibility for humanitarian aid to be delivered to locations along the western border with Liberia and Guinea, the destruction of a UNHCR ferry used to transport refugees between CDI and Liberia, the confiscation of some 20 UNICEF vehicles, and the discovery of mass graves near Vavoua and Bouaké.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Sergio Vieira de Mello issued a statement from New York on 4 December warning that perpetrators of serious crimes in Côte d'Ivoire, regardless of their loyalties, will be liable to stand trial before an international court.

UNHCR Assistant High Commissioner Mr. Kamel Morjane has completed a mission to the region with stops in Côte d'Ivoire (13-14 Dec.), Liberia (14-15 Dec.), Ghana (16-17 Dec.) and Togo (18 Dec.). In Abidjan on Friday and Saturday, he met with high-level officials and appealed for protection and support for refugees, unlimited access for all humanitarian workers everywhere in the country, open borders and respect for staff and property of the international community. "During two days of fighting alone," he stated' "UNHCR lost contact with more than 45,000 refugees of concern that had been living in and around the fighting area. Some of these refugees have in the meantime turned up in Liberia or Guinea, together with up to 50,000 other exhausted refugees and returnees." In Monrovia Morjane praised the Government for maintaining an open border policy for refugees and returnees of the Ivorian crisis, but urged at the same time that it show greater "hospitality", after several returnees were detained by the Liberian Government. Liberian President Robert Taylor has replicated with his concern that Liberian refugees currently in Côte d'Ivoire who could eventually be repatriated by UNHCR may be "terrorists".

French troops discovered a mass grave of 120 civilians about 70 km north-west of loyalist-held Daloa near Vavoua, in the village of Monoko-Zohi, close to where Government and rebel forces clashed. Villagers report that these individuals were attacked and killed by "men in uniform". This was followed by reports of a mass grave in Bouaké, supposedly containing the bodies of 86 loyalist gendarmes killed by MPCI forces. French foreign ministry spokesman Francois Rivasseau told journalists in Paris on Tuesday 10 December, "We hope the perpetrators will be held accountable for their actions before a court of justice. Impunity in Côte d'Ivoire must end."

The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Wednesday 11 December that the French government was increasing the number of soldiers (from a previous base of 1,200) it has deployed in Côte d'Ivoire to protect the approximately 20,000 French citizens and other foreigners, and to continue monitoring of the ceasefire. France also expressed willingness to host an African Summit to address the Ivorian crisis in Paris.

On Tuesday 10 December, thousands of young Ivorians flocked to the gendarmes training school in Abidjan in response to a call by the Ivorian Defense Minister for 3,000 volunteers. Due to the large turnout, the volunteers were asked to return on Thursday 12 December to begin registration procedures.

Two Medecins Sans Frontiers staff were abducted and then released as they attempted to enter the city of Man during the week of 9-13 December. Although their vehicle was "requisitioned", they report having been treated well.

SECURITY

Phase IV has been extended by the UN to include the whole of the western region from San Pedro on the coast, northwards to Guiglo and Duékoué, westwards to Daloa and Bondoukou. The remainder of Côte d'Ivoire is currently set at phase III. All European Union countries, along with Canada and the USA, have advised their nationals to leave the country, with the exception of Spain, which has advised the departure of nationals with "non-essential" functions to depart, and France which is maintaining a state of alert for its citizens.

REGIONAL INITIATIVES

The cease-fire brokered on 17 October remains in place and negotiations in the Togolese capital of Lome continue in stalemate on political issues - mainly the rebel demand for the resignation of Ivorian president Laurent Gbagbo. Last week Togolese president and head of the ECOWAS Contact Group Gnassingbe Eyadema visited Côte d'Ivoire. The meeting culminated in the signing of a document aimed at "strengthening national cohesion and unity" by the five main political parties. However, the Rassemblement des Republicains (RDR), lead by Alassane Ouattara (currently in Gabon after being evacuated by the French on 26 November) disassociated itself from the document.

HUMANITARIAN SITUATION

Access to western zones of the country remains unpredictable and nearly impossible due to rebel presence and sporadic fighting. Access to northern rebel-held areas remains unpredictable. This reality is creating daunting technical obstacles for the delivery of relief to affected populations and the relocation of trapped refugees and other IDPs. UNHCR report that many thousands of refugees from Danané, Man and other war zones, have decided recently to move towards the refugee camp of Nicla, located near the town of Guiglo, which seems to be one of the few safe havens left in the West of the country. However, UNHCR was forced to close its office in Guiglo on the week of 9 - 13 December due to fighting in the area, and is now monitoring the situation and evaluating the possibility of evacuating the camp and others stranded in the region through repatriation, temporary relocation to a third country, or relocation to safer areas in Côte d'Ivoire. Latest UNHCR estimates put the camp population at between 5,000 and 8,000 and growing, up from about 4,000 before the 28 November violence. The situation of the Liberian refugees in Côte d'Ivoire is extremely worrying as they are considered rebels by the local populations and are routinely subject to attacks. According to UNHCR, a large number of the Liberian refugees trapped here do not, in any case, wish to return to Liberia at this time. The situation is critical.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (CICR) reports that hospitals are closed or only partially functioning, and that water and electricity service has been interrupted in the area extending from the city of Man to Daloa and Bouaké. They are working to reopen hospitals, provide medical relief and supplies, and to protect foreigners from physical violence. Large numbers of Senegalese, Malians, and Nigerians have left the area and an estimated 2,500 Burkinabé are stranded and wish to be repatriated. Rebels advised a CICR mission not to attempt reaching Danané. The city of Man has seen a population decrease as residents flee the fighting: Guineans reportedly are making their way through the bush to the Guinean border.

Save the Children Sweden reports that the last shantytown destroyed in Abidjan was Banco-deux, on 8th December, which left a further 150 families displaced. It has also received disturbing documentation indicating that Boribana, a shantytown with a population of 60,000 in the Attecoube section of Abidjan, is slated for destruction before the end of the year, despite assurances by President Laurent Gbagbo to the United Nations and the international community that such actions would cease without proper relocation provisions for the displaced. An estimated 5,000 people in Abidjan remain without viable shelter alternatives as a result of the demolitions and are sleeping in the open on the sites of their former homes (3,000), in transit centers run by UNHCR and IOM, or taking temporary shelter in mosques and churches. Save the Children further verifies that two street children, unable to find shelter before curfew, have been shot dead and two wounded by bullets in Abidjan since the crisis began.

Residents of shantytowns in Abidjan that have not been destroyed avoid leaving their homes to sell goods in market and perform other important daily tasks, for fear of returning to find their homes and possessions razed into rubble, and are afraid to send their children to school, possibly becoming separated from them. Remaining shantytowns are also experiencing population increases, creating social, sanitation and general human security problems.

NGOs continue to report harassment and racketeering of shantytown residents by local security forces, as well as abductions and disappearances of an apparently political nature. MIDH (Movement Ivoirien de Droits de l'Homme) has documented the detainment by "men in uniform" and subsequent disappearance of 188 individuals since the 19 September hostilities, 90% of which have surnames of northern origin, and a strong majority of which are members or sympathisers of Alassane Ouattara's Rassemblement des Republicains (RDR) opposition political party.

AFRICARE reports that the northwestern city of Odienne is suffering a serious lack of medical personnel and medical supplies, and that the price of foodstuffs is rising there.

REGIONAL HUMANITARIAN IMPLICATIONS

IOM and UNHCR reports indicate that population movements from Côte d'Ivoire into neighboring countries are, approximately:

In addition: Senegal, Niger, Benin, Togo and Nigeria have together received a total of 5,927 returnees. Several of the above-mentioned countries' embassies are carrying out repatriation of their nationals from Côte d'Ivoire.

HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Regional Support Office for West Africa (OCHA) is currently working to assure safe, regular passage to the west and north of Côte d'Ivoire for humanitarian missions. To this end, an evaluation mission of the inter-agency United Nations Joint Logistics Centre (UNJLC) was hosted and facilitated through OCHA. In January a UNJLC "Civil Military Officer" will be deployed in Côte d'Ivoire and based in the OCHA offices in Abidjan to provide liaison and coordination between UN and other humanitarian organisations and the various military elements now present in the country.

OCHA has designed and distributed two distinct evaluation forms for use by the fast-growing number of humanitarian missions in the country. The first consists of "flash indicators", and the second is a more in-depth questionnaire pinpointing exact problems and needs. Concerted use of these custom-designed evaluation forms by humanitarian missions will render the process of sharing, collating and diffusing information more efficient, allowing a quicker and more effective response to the deepening crisis.

OCHA has established a sub-office in Yamoussoukro to monitor the situation and coordinate humanitarian aid, in an effort to ensure that all of the vulnerable receive assistance.

OCHA is also coordinating joint UN Agency and NGO press briefings to be held in Abidjan on a weekly basis. The first briefing will be held at the WHO offices on Thursday 19 December at 11:00.

UNHCR, in cooperation with IOM repatriated 28 displaced Liberian refugees preferring to return home from Abidjan to Monrovia on Saturday 14 December. Twelve of the returnees were detained upon arrival in the airport. Plans are underway to repatriate small groups of displaced Sierra Leonean refugees in the near future as well.

WFP - Following the humanitarian alert in the Daloa area of last week, a joint assessment was undertaken with OCHA and ACF (Action Contre la Faim) on 14 and 15 December. The team confirmed that there was an influx of internally displaced people (IDPs) fleeing the fighting in the western region. Approximately 15,000 IDPs are located at various transit centers / concentration areas. The IDPs are mostly women, children and elderly. Food resources are limited and the communities generally do not volunteer to host them. Food distributions are being prepared at five sites in the Daloa area, to cover 15 days for 15,000 people at the end of this week. Two WFP officers obtained a laissez- passer in Yamoussoukro and headed towards Korhogo in the northern region with two WFP vehicles 12 December. A WFP sub-office will be established to monitor food security and to target vulnerable people.

WFP and UNHCR are reassessing the situation in affected areas in western and central CDI, and are preparing for regular December food distribution. WFP reports a significant increase in IDPs from the western region in Yamoussoukro. IDPs are being registered and assisted at the Mie N'Gou transit centre before being transported to different coastal regions or settled with local host families. WFP estimates that it is currently feeding 50,000 people through NGO partners, including CARE, in and around Bouaké, and plans to open a sub-office in Korhogo.

UNICEF has undertaken missions to Yamoussoukro from 5 - 15 December and on 11 December to evaluate assistance needed at the Mie N'Gou transit center and to finalise arrangements for a UNICEF working office in Yamoussoukro. They report that the Ivorian capital has become not only a transit town for IDPs, but also become a refugee center. A mission is planned for the week of 23 - 27 December to set up educational activities and improve sanitation in Mie N'Gou transit center. UNICEF reports the shared preoccupation of the Ministry of Health and WHO regarding access to children in rebel-held territory, as well as displaced children, targeted by the ongoing polio vaccination campaign, and is providing logistical support to the ministry to convey EPI vaccines into occupied zones. ICRC delivered vaccines to Korhogo and Bouake. The results of a nutritional survey undertaken on their behalf by the Ministry of Health on displaced children in Yamoussoukro are available through UNICEF.

In the protection sector, UNICEF is in the process of extending the number of its operational partners and fields of intervention in Abidjan and the rest of the country. Partners include the Saint Martin mission, the Catholic Church of Bouaké, and interventions include medical support to affected areas. Save the children UK have started monitoring 3 child-friendly spaces supported by UNICEF in Abidjan, and the NGO will follow-up educational activities using UNICEF materials such as recreation and school-in-a-box kits in centers receiving displaced children in Abidjan and Yamoussoukro.

A UNICEF-sponsored hygiene sensitization campaign targeting IDPs in Abidjan and Yamoussoukro is ongoing with radio JAM FM since 27 November and will end on 23 December. Work with the national ONG ONEF (Organisation for the Child Woman and Family) to implement a hygiene sensitization campaign in IDP centers in Abidjan and Yammoussoukro will begin the week of 23-27 December, and contracts are available for the building and rehabilitation of showers and latrines, as well as disinsectisation centers.

UNDP is supporting efforts by the Civil Society Peace Group (Collectif de la Société Civile pour la Paix) to reduce religious and ethnic tensions and promote human rights, tolerance and peace. The peace group, formed by religious and human rights organizations, is setting up local committees to encourage leaders to promote peace and reconciliation in their communities. UNDP Resident Representative El-Mustafa Benlamlih said the Civil Society Peace Group. "aims to put in place the mechanisms for communities themselves to address future threats of ethnic violence." Both UNDP and UNICEF have sponsored a course for trainers working with the committees. OCHA has designed a complementary project, "Culture of Peace" to address these same issues in new, strained communities of hosts, displaced, returnees, and refugees in bordering areas of neighboring Ghana, Burkina Faso, Mali and Guinea.

ONUSIDA reports that all activities to control the AIDS epidemic in rebel-held territories, including prevention, medical and psycho-social initiatives, are currently blocked. Estimates based on countries that have experienced similar population movements and displacement indicate that the risk of infection is five times greater during such crisis periods due to erratic sexual behavior, sexual violence and prostitution. This means that the current crisis could cause the HIV infection rate in Côte d'Ivoire to increase from the current estimation of 10% of the adult population to over 30% over the next year, with devastating long-term consequences.

Save the Children is providing assistance to children separated from their families as a result of shantytown destruction and conflict in the west and north, and also to street children whose lives have been rendered ever-more precarious by the current unrest, in Yamoussoukro and Abidjan.

Medecins Sans Frontiers has completed two missions to Daloa, Guiglo and Duékoué, distributing medical supplies and providing medical relief. Another mission to the area is currently underway, in search of large and small groups of IDPs in need of assistance.

Amnesty International appealed on Tuesday 10 December to the two new rebel groups in western Côte d'Ivoire to halt summary executions, arbitrary arrests, secret detention and the recruitment of child soldiers.

A CICR convoy of medical equipment and supplies for distribution to 15 medical facilities in Bouaké and surrounding towns departed today.

The UN Flash Appeal 2002-2003 for Côte d'Ivoire and the West Africa Sub-Region is underway. While the target of US$ 15,900,673 has not yet been reached, pledged funding is already being put to use to address the urgent needs created by the crisis.

TROUBLING SITUATION IN NEIGHBORING LIBERIA

IFRC (International Federation of the Red Cross) has issued a statement describing the situation in Liberia as deteriorating, and predicting that fighting will escalate creating thousands more refugees in 2003. Given the large numbers of Ivorians already seeking refuge in Liberia and the existing turmoil in western CDI, the ramifications for displaced and migrating populations in the region are potentially devastating. Reports of English-speaking Liberian combatants - including child soldiers - mixed in the fray in the west of Côte d'Ivoire are worrying.

For more information please contact:

Mrs. Besida Tonwe, Head of Office, OCHA-RSOWA
Office: +225-22-40-51-75
Cell: +225-07-01-36-63
E-mail: tonwe@un.org ; or besida@ocha.ci

INFORMATION SOURCES INCLUDE IRIN NEWS SERVICE. WE WELCOME COMMENTS ON THIS DOCUMENT.