SUMMARY
As the economy declined and the political situation became increasingly chaotic in Ivory Coast, politicians began to play upon ethnic, regional and religious differences and use these as a means to access power. Thus, as the 1990s came to an end, ethnicity had become highly politicized. It was in this context in general, and in the context of the intrastate conflict that was fought 2002-2004 in particular that the Government of Ivory Coast made use of one-sided violence.
During the 1990s, the concept of "Ivorité" (Ivorianess) had been introduced, and policies building upon it distinguished sharply between Ivoirians of "authentic" native origin or foreign descent. The government represented foremost the Bété (which is President Gbagbo's ethnic group), Attie, Abey, and Dida ethnic groups, as well as their allies in the west, the Wê and Krou tribes. These were all regarded as native to the country, while the Muslims in the northern part of Ivory Coast were identified with the foreign migrants who came predominantly from northern, and largely Muslim, countries. By the government's narrow definition, which stipulated that to be a native Ivorian, a person both parents had to have been born in the Ivory Coast, some 30 % of the country's 16 million inhabitants were considered foreigners. It was these so-called foreigners that were the government's main target in one-sided killings.
A massacre carried out by gendarmes in Yopougon, outside Abidjan in October 2000 has been deemed to be a milestone in ethnic violence in the country. Until then, there had been a lot of hate propaganda, with certain sections of the press and the state media regularly publishing xenophobic material that promoted the ideology of Ivorité, but there had not been any large-scale ethnically motivated violence to accompany it. On 26 October 2000, in the context of the tumultuous elections taking place, more than 50 people, all belonging to the Dioula ethnic group, and all suspected supporters of the opposition party RDR (Rally of Republicans Party, Rassemblement des Republicains) were detained at the Gendarme Camp of Abobo, located in one of Abidjan's most densely populated and pro-RDR neighborhoods. They were gunned down the same day.
As the political turmoil eventually turned into full-scale armed conflict, the government made frequent use of its many militias to battle the rebellion. Militias, as well as the armed forces and the gendarmes carried out widespread violations of human rights, such as systematic and indiscriminate attacks on civilians, summary executions, rape, and torture. People were targeted mainly due to their ethnicity, but also based on religion or suspected political affiliation. The common denominator was that northerners were considered rebel sympathizers as were Muslims and opposition supporters.
The western part of the country saw widespread killings of civilians during so-called cleansing operations in towns retaken from the rebels. One of the worst examples of this was the killings in Daloa in October 2002 when at least 56 people were summarily executed by government forces.
There were also reports of extremely well planned and thought-out killings, where lists of names of intended targets circulated in certain cities. In most cases it was reported that these lists were created with the help of local villagers who supported the government.
During the presidential dispute of 2011, the government once again turned to one-sided violence. The main targets remained the same as in previous years; the so-called foreigners. In Abidjan and other cities in the government-controlled south the security forces and the pro-government militias carried out widespread human rights violations. Neighborhoods primarily occupied by northerners or immigrant workers were frequently raided and many of the inhabitants were arbitrarily arrested or killed. Furthermore peaceful demonstrations were violently repressed by the use of heavy weaponry.
With the fall of the capital of Yamoussoukro on March 30, 2011, the Government of Ivory Coast was no longer represented by Laurent Gbagbo but by opposition leader Alassane Ouattara. One-sided violence committed by the government thus inversed and the main targets became the native ethnic groups supportive of Laurent Gbagbo, such as the Guérés.
The Government of Ivory Coast first became active as a one-sided actor in UCDP data in 2000, when the one-sided violence resulted in over 25 civilian deaths. The threshold was reached on 26 October that year, when over 50 people were killed in a massacre in Yopougon, outside Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
