Ivory Coast: Tales of terror
2002-12-02 00:33
Abidjan - Foreigners fleeing Ivory Coast's war zone told on Sunday of their terror at the hands of Liberian fighters helping the West African country's latest rebellion.
"The Liberians looted everything, even the church," said a 60-year-old Lebanese woman who was airlifted by French troops with scores of other foreigners from the town of Man.
"They went to see one of my neighbours three times for money, but he didn't have enough. So they started firing shots between his legs, telling him 'Dance, dance'," she said, too scared to give her name.
"They let him go in the end, but they killed his two dogs."
Although residents of Man said two Liberian fighters were executed by their commander for looting, reports are rife of cars, money and goods being stolen.
Already split between north and south after four weeks of fighting which followed a failed coup on September 19, Ivory Coast has been flung further into chaos by the sudden appearance of murky new rebel groups.
Foreigners fleeing Man said the new rebels had been joined by hundreds of fighters from Liberia, where West Africa's cycle of violence began with a civil war that broke out in 1989 and has never ended.
It is not hard to spot the Liberians since they speak English - not French like most Ivorians.
Willing receuits
There is no shortage of youths ready to take up arms in Liberia.
Its first war ended in 1997 with the election of President Charles Taylor, a former warlord, but rebels fighting to overthrow him began a new struggle two years ago.
"These are people who were born with war, grew up with war. They've seen nothing else. They don't understand anything else," said an Italian woman who was evacuated from Man.
Liberia's wars have left at least 200 000 people dead and have been marked not only by looting but also summary killings, amputations and rape.
The government is under United Nations sanctions for fuelling civil war in Sierra Leone in exchange for diamonds and helping insurgents in neighbouring Guinea.
The presence of the Liberians is bound to create suspicions that Taylor's government, or at least his indisciplined array of security forces, is now involved in the destabilisation of Ivory Coast.
But Ivorian officials have not accused Liberia of helping the rebels as openly as it has Burkina Faso - which has also been named in UN reports as being implicated in the fighting in both Liberia and Sierra Leone.
"We cannot say these Liberians are soldiers who are on an official mission," said Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo's adviser in Europe, Toussaint Alain
"But we call on the governments of Liberia and Guinea to do all they can to stop mercenaries from joining this war."