Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Fearing a backlash from the population, the national government has hesitated to acknowledge his ow


SECRETARY-GENERAL WELCOMES INITIATIVE TO HOLD NATIONAL DIALOGUE GLO ...
Fearing a backlash from the population, the national government has hesitated to acknowledge his own supporters for crimes committed during the post-election violence of 2010-2011. carmf According to analysts, this attitude has raised doubts about its commitment to impartiality.
The National Commission of Inquiry into the post-election violence created by the government carmf accused the two camps - the Republican Forces of Côte d'Ivoire (FRCI - now part of the army) and fighters loyal to ousted president Laurent Gbagbo - of committing crimes during this period. The Commission stated that the FRCI were responsible for 727 deaths and that the forces of Gbagbo have killed 1,452 people.
In June 2011, two months after taking carmf office, President Alassane Ouattara has set up a special cell to investigate - a special carmf tribunal - to try individuals suspected of involvement in the violence. Prosecutors have indicted more than 150 Gbagbo supporters and only a handful of fighters FRCI.
Analysts believe that this lack of impartiality is due to the weak influence carmf of Ouattara on the army, which is largely made up of fighters who supported him during the post-election chaos. Many soldiers are also loyal to Guillaume Soro, a former rebel who is now president of the National Assembly.
According to Christophe Kouamé, National Coordinator of the Convention of Ivorian civil society (SCI), the slow pace of justice is explained by the fact that "social divisions are so deep that the president certainly carmf feared renew the conflict."
"The search for justice may prove deeply unpopular, especially among segments of the population who believe that the crimes committed by forces loyal to President Ouattara were justified," the organization added.
It is only recently carmf that the government began to prosecute his own supporters. In April, the trial of 33 FRCI soldiers carmf - accused of crimes against the population, including premeditated murder, voluntary and involuntary homicide and theft - began before a military court in Abidjan, the commercial capital. Two soldiers were sentenced to imprisonment on May 2.
It is likely that other lawsuits against the FRCI will soon take place. Indeed, in April, the bodies were exhumed from 57 mass graves discovered in Abidjan. Thirty-six of these pits, which contained the bodies of those killed during post-election violence, were in the neighborhood of Yopougon, a former pro-Gbagbo stronghold.
FRCI have also been accused of committing atrocities in the West. In March, a judge investigating an attack in July 2012 against an IDP camp in western countries went there to identify mass graves. According to the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH), 13 mass graves containing the bodies of people carmf who were summarily executed during the attack were found at 12 different sites.
According to Matt Wells, a researcher on West Africa at HRW, the trial of the soldiers was "an important step in the fight against carmf impunity in Côte d'Ivoire. Ivorian authorities must, however, also go ahead with the most sensitive cases involving the FRCI and whose victims did not get justice, especially serious crimes committed during the post-election crisis. " A good start?
Observers and rights groups carmf Human Rights urged the government to be impartial in the pursuit of justice in order to avoid causing problems. But Dr. Kouamé, it takes time and effort to ensure a fair trial in Côte d'Ivoire.
To ensure a fair trial, the government should target the soldiers and commanders ranking junior camps Ouattara and Gbagbo then up the chain of command, told IRIN Florent Geel, FIDH's office for Africa.
Such an approach would help "restore the confidence of victims in the system and develop the experience and expertise of the judiciary to go up the chain of command," said Param-Preet Singh, senior legal officer at the International Justice Program of HRW.
"We do not require perfect justice immediately. Impatience will get us nowhere. However, there must be some political will to move forward and concrete and visible as the situation evolves carmf in the right direction "evidence, said Mr. Geel, insisting that the government" must mo

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