Rebels hold villagers to ransom to raise funds

Government bombs may have stopped falling on towns in the northern half of Cote d'Ivoire, but now rebels are taking residents hostage for ransom, reports of human rights violations are on the increase, and the price of essential items such as bread and fuel has doubled. Rebel forces, who hold the north of the country and were hit by Ivorian airplanes when an 18-month ceasefire was shattered on 4 November, are reported to be raiding villages to demand cash. Some commentators in the Abidjan press see this as part of a drive by the rebels to strengthen their war chest in case full-scale conflict resumes. An Ivorian women, who asked not to be identified, told IRIN on Thursday that rebels fighters had stormed her home village of Konaklo in early November, looking for money. All the young men in Konaklo, which lies about 50 km from the main rebel stronghold Bouake, fled into the bush as the rebel fighters arrived. The gunmen began breaking into houses to search for hidden notes and beat up many of the people they found inside, who pleaded that they had nothing left to give. The woman said her own mother, who is aged over 70, also fled. She was smuggled over the frontline by a young nephew, who carried her on his bicycle. Four middle-aged men were not so lucky. They were taken hostage by the rebels, who imprisoned them in containers seven kilometres down the road in the town of Sakassou, pending the payment of a 1.5 million CFA ($3,000) ransom. The New Forces rebel movement have used containers as makeshift prisons before in the northern city of Korhogo. A UN human rights investigation into clashes between rival rebel factions in Korhogo in June reported that dozens of people were arrested and held in hot airless containers. A medical examination of 99 bodies discovered in mass graves on the outskirts of the city showed that many of them had suffocated to death. Race to raise funds With their neighbours languishing in custody, the remaining Konaklo villagers were only able to raise one million francs between them, the woman said. They therefore sent an envoy to Abidjan at the end of last week to raise the remaining 500,000 CFA ($1,000) from people who had left the farming community to seek jobs in Cote d'Ivoire's economic capital. The woman said the rebel fighters gave no reasons for demanding money and did not accuse the villagers, who are mostly from the Baoule ethnic group of former president Felix Houphouet Boigny, of siding with the government. But she said the rebel gunmen threatened bluntly to kill the hostages and burn down the entire village unless the money was paid. One of her relatives, who witnessed the scene first-hand, quoted the leader of the rebel fighters as saying: "If you don't give us the money, you won't see them again. They will be dead." It was not the first time Konaklo had been targeted. Back in July, the woman who spoke to IRIN was actually present in Konaklo when a small group of rebel fighters came and arrested four young men whom they accused of drug trafficking. They took them away as prisoners and told village elders that if the community wanted to see them alive again they would have to quickly raise a ransom of one million CFA francs (US$2,000). The woman said Konaklo's village elders eventually negotiated the payment down to 800,000 CFA ($1,600) and managed to raise this sum after a few days. The hostages were then released. But the fate of the men captured in November remains unclear. These events are being mirrored in other villages in the Bandama river valley, where Konaklo is situated, according to the independent Abidjan newspaper, L'Inter. "Each village is required to pay 1 million CFA," the paper said in an article published last week. "Why? Nobody knows. But since the payment of 'tax' takes place in a context where the New Forces have suffered air strikes on their various military sites, the keenest observers believe that the money raised can only be used to purchase new pieces of military equipment." UN says human rights violations increasing The UN has also said its human rights officials in Bouake have reported increasing cases of forced disappearances, arbitrary arrests and incommunicado detentions since the latest cycle of violence began in what was once West Africa's success story. But officials in Cote d'Ivoire contacted by IRIN have declined to give further details. A statement by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said staff were beginning to return to Cote d'Ivoire after being evacuated earlier this month and hoped investigations would be possible. "If conditions permit, rapid assessment missions will be conducted in various areas including... Bouake in the rebel-held north where cases of forced disappearances, arrests and detention of people accused of supporting President Laurent Gbagbo have been reported," OCHA said. But even for those northern Cote d'Ivoire residents who have managed to escape the reported hostage-taking and human rights abuses, life is still tough. In the days following the Ivorian army's abortive assault in November on the rebel territory, prices of everyday items sky-rocketed. An IRIN correspondent in the main town Bouake, reported that a loaf of bread was now selling for 250 CFA (50 US cents), exactly double the price in October, and residents were often scuffling for stale baguettes. "I don't understand the shopkeepers who raise the price of their goods, even when they are old stock," Stephane Brou, a Bouake resident, told IRIN, as he stood outside a bakery.

Residents in the main rebel town of Bouake complain about spiralling prices

Paraffin, which many people use to cook with, has also shot up in price from 500 CFA (US $1) to 1,000 CFA (US$ 2). One Bouake local told IRIN that some vendors were waiting for prices to rise before getting rid of their stocks, and there had been clashes with soldiers. "People went to buy paraffin and the vendor said he had some, but he was going to wait for prices to spike higher before he began selling it," the local, who would only give his first name Beli, explained. "A soldier told him to hand over the 20 litres he had, and that he would pay 20,000 CFA. When the vendor had done so, the soldier beat him and distributed the petrol for free to all those who wanted it." Residents have also had to cope with their electricity and water being repeatedly cut off by the government in the south. Supplies were severed the day before the Ivorian army launched their offensive. Although they were restored about a week later, they were cut again on 14 November. They have since been reconnected. People in Bouake talk about bodies rotting in the unrefrigerated morgues, water pumps being knocked out of action and having to manage by candlelight for nights on end. And of course the price of candles has now gone through the roof. Humanitarian organisations have urged the government to maintain a constant supply of electricity and to the north, so that hospitals can keep functioning and clean drinking water is available to avoid outbreaks of cholera, typhoid and other water-borne diseases.