By Kingsley Kobo
The Ivorian government's national reconciliation efforts are facing yet another challenge with the opposition insisting on the release of prisoners and war victims threatening retaliation.
"Each time prisoners of the post-election crisis are released by the government, I get uncountable calls from victims telling me that guy who killed my mother or father or beheaded my wife is back in town free, moving and even mocking us," Issiaka Diaby, president of the influential War Victims Association, told Anadolu Agency in an interview.
More than 400 prisoners are still in jail in connection with the 2011 post-election conflict, in which 3000 people were killed and 3200 injured.
The Ivorian authorities granted provisional freedom to some 160 people last year in a move hailed by many in and outside the country as a step toward national reconciliation.
But the association, composed of victims of political violence in the east Africa country, disagrees.
"I would go round calming and assuring them [war victims] that their [released prisoner's] freedom is only provisional and that a trial will open soon," Diaby explained.
"But in reality, no dates for such trials are in sight, and more prisoners are being released," he fumed. "How long will I be able to appease the victims?"
Founded in 2001, Diaby's association became visibly active after the 2011 post-election crisis.
It currently fights for the rights of injured individuals and families, most of whom are uncared for by the government or NGOs.
"You have victims with amputated legs, broken arms and shoulders and impoverished orphans and widows who can buy neither food nor drugs for themselves," Diaby lamented.
He cited, as just one example, a victim who carried a bullet in his body for months before they could raise enough money for surgery.
"At the same time, the government is sending ambulances to pick sick prisoners up from their cells and sending them to the best hospitals in town to get treatment before taking them back to jail," Diaby said.
"The authorities have ignored these people who suffered the crisis and are concentrating on how to please the opposition whose members and militias committed the crimes," he added.
The main opposition party of former president Laurent Gbagbo, who is currently in The Hague awaiting trial on charges of crimes against humanity, is pushing for the release of all jailed members.
There are fears the opposition may boycott 2015 presidential elections if its prisoners are not released.
This would likely sap the incumbent president of his legitimacy before the international community – and within the country should he secure a second term.
-Justice not served-
In July 2011, the Ivorian government initiated a commission for dialogue, truth and reconciliation composed of statesmen and traditional and religious leaders.
"We are doing our best to bring this nation together," commission chairman Charles Konan Banny told AA in an interview.
"Our mission is to dig out the truth and the cause of all that has happened so we can give suggestions that will heal all parties," he added.
But critics say the mission has been slow and unproductive because of the opposition's unwillingness to apologise to the nation for acts committed by some of its militants during the post-election conflict.
"Yes, there are victims still waiting for justice, but even those in jail or in exile believe they are victims somehow too," Banny said.
"The question now is to listen to everybody and see what solutions will best apply to each case," he added.
The international community and local traditional rulers are pressuring the government to hold trials for those still jailed, or simply set them free to encourage a national reconciliation process launched three years ago to heal the ethnic and political divisions caused by the 2010 presidential election.
The argument, however, does not sit well with war victims.
"Justice has to be done," Diaby insisted.
"Those who committed crimes during the crisis have to be tried and punished, while the victims should get reparations – that is all we are after," he asserted.
englishnews@aa.com.tr
