With the start of the Côte d’Ivoire presidential election, the city of Dabou, west of Abidjan, has in the last two days experienced one of the deadliest episodes since the start of the protest against the candidacy of ‘Alassane Ouattara has a third period of violence that left at least seven dead and dozens wounded.
as reported from Abidjan, Pierre Pinto
Major reinforcements from the gendarmerie arrived on Wednesday from Abidjan to try to restore calm in Dabou, the site of clashes and looting. Automatic shots were even heard. The city has seen a worrying rise in tensions since the start of the week.
On Monday, barricades were erected and a few clashes were reported. But a milestone was crossed the next day with the deaths of at least three people. Among them, a young man in his twenties killed with a machete in the village of Kpass on the outskirts of Dabou by individuals who had just looted a farm and continued their destructive equipment. “We have a lot of infiltration of young criminals, all of whom have come out of the smoking room. They are attacking, they are stealing, they are looting, ”comments Dabou Mayor Jean-Claude Yede Niangne.
This Wednesday, youths from surrounding villages stormed Malinke neighborhoods in what looked like retaliatory operations. By the end of the day, authorities counted at least four new deaths, a total of seven dead and dozens injured in the last 48 hours.
For the prefect of Dabou, unknown elements, for some armed with Kalashnikovs and well-educated, came to create the conflict. “Originally, a banal political confrontation between those in power and the opposition turned into a conflict between Dioulas and Adioukrous. But we are convinced that a well-armed militia wanted to recover from this confrontation, “said Remi Nzi Kanga. “Where do they come from? I could not say that,” complains the prefect.
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