RESIDENTS OF YOPOUGON ROUT PRO-GOV'T MILITIA

C O N F I D E N T I A L ABIDJAN 001251

SIPDIS

C O R R E C T E D C O P Y (PARAGRAPH RENUMBERED)

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/07/2016
TAGS: ASEC IV MARR PREL
SUBJECT: RESIDENTS OF YOPOUGON ROUT PRO-GOV'T MILITIA

Classified By: DepPolEcon Chief EMassinga, Reasons 1.4 (b)


1. (SBU) On November 3, residents of the Azito
neighborhood in the populous Yopougon suburb of Abidjan
engaged in a daylong battle with members of a pro-government
militia, the Groupe des Patriotes pour la Paix (GPP),and
eventually succeeded in ejecting them entirely.
Long-simmering tensions erupted into open conflict in which
two residents were killed and two GPP members were reportedly
burned to death after being wounded in the fighting.
Twenty-five other GPP members were injured and taken to
hospital with unspecified injuries. Local residents rallied
after initial losses and routed the GPP from their local HQ,
burning the facility. Specialized government anti-riot
troops equipped with two armored vehicles, along with six
mixed truckloads of soldiers and gendarmes, responded to the
scene and prevented the GPP unit there from being entirely
destroyed by the enraged residents. Security forces, led by
Chief of Staff General Mangou himself on the scene,
reportedly took 100 GPP members in custody, initally holding
them them at the Abidjan Police school for their own
protection. On November 8 General Kassarate, Commandant of
the Gendarmerie, announced in a press conference that 200
(vice the 100 reported in most initial press accounts) GPP
elements were being held at the Abidjan Police and
Gendermerie Academies. Kassarate and public prosecutors said
that no charges have yet been filed, and that investigations
into the incident continue.


2. (SBU) According to press reports, the confrontation had
been building up for some time. Created after the August
2002 coup attempt and subsequent division of the country, the
GPP engaged in criminality to finance itself, robbing and
extorting from businesses and individuals in the various
communities it has been located. According to press reports,
in Yopougon, GPP members are also widely accused of rape,
adding greater resentment to residents apparently disgusted
with their presence. The recent incident appears to have
been sparked after the November 1 killing of a GPP member
(possibly by a member of the military),which touched off a
round of escalating reprisals.


3. (SBU) Public reaction to the events in Yopougon has been
intensely negative against the GPP, which is seen as having
gotten what it deserved. On the day following the incident,
President Gbagbo ordered that all militias be disarmed, in
all likelihood to appease public wrath. Since 2003, the
government has formally banned the GPP twice. To date,
however, we have seen no evidence of any moves to actually
disarm or dismantle the GPP or any other militia. GPP
leaders have been quoted disavowing any connection with the
Yopougon GPP branch. President Gbagbo mentioned the Yopougon
incident to the Ambassador and said that the 100 GPP members
arrested would be prosecuted. Opposition groups are buoyed
by the Yopougon incident. The PDCI has reportedly ordered
its youth groups to eject the GPP from its strongholds, and,
in an 11/7 meeting with the Ambassador, the RHDP used the
incident as an example of how fed up average people are with
the FPI's provocations.


4. (C) Comment. This is not the first instance in which
community residents have responded violently to the GPP's
presence and criminal activities. In 2005 and later 2006,
skirmishes between the GPP and residents around the Institut
Marie Therese Houphouet-Boigny in the Abidjan suburb of
Adjame, where the GPP had established a base of operations,
were prominently reported in the press. The renewed
opposition and enthusiastic support it has garnered from the
population suggests a growing fatigue among Ivorians with the
militias' thuggish tactics. The successful action to eject
the GPP may also encourage opposition youth groups to react
in force against intimidation tactics by Gbagbo supporters.
End Comment.
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