Ivory Coast opens Truth and Reconciliation Commission

Sep 28, 2011

Abidjan - The Ivory Coast inaugurated on Wednesday a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, part of the country's coming to terms with lethal post-election violence that erupted late last year and ongoing efforts to help create national unity.

Thousands of people were killed after violence broke out in November and carried on until late April. Up to 1 million people were displaced by the conflict, many of whom have not yet returned home, as they fear further unrest.

However, attacks have largely abated and the country, a major cocoa producer, is expected to see economic growth of some 8 per cent this year, according to the International Monetary Fund.

The commission - modeled on the South African panel of the same name and founded after the end of apartheid there - will have 11 members and be headed by former prime minister Charles Konan Banny. Other members include leaders of the Christian and Muslim communities.

How exactly the commission will function, and whether it would have the power to grant amnesty, remained unclear. It is expected to have a two-year mandate.

'The two year-mandate of the reconciliation commission is really short and the absence of the a clear operating mode of the commission is worrying,' said Ngouan Patrick, the chairman of the CSCI, the country's largest coalition of civil society organizations.

Patrick said he was 'satisfied' with the make-up of the panel, noting it was free of serving politicians and military officials.

Violence erupted after former president Laurent Gbagbo refused to step down after the international community recognized his opponent, Alassane Ouattara, as the winner of the November poll. Fighting subsided only after Gbagbo was captured and his forces defeated.

Gbagbo and his wife, Simone, along with dozens of allies have been detained for 'breaches of national security' and 'economic crimes,' including embezzlement.

Supporters of the former president have been calling for his release and denounce Ouattara's government.

The commission's opening ceremony, in the capital Yamoussoukro, was presided over by Ouattara and was heavily guarded by UN forces and army troops.

'I officially give you the order and the instrument of the commission that you're going to lead,' the president said to Banny, the chairman, during his brief speech before the gathered crowd.

Many Ivorians have expressed hope the commission will somehow chart a path towards healing the divides in the country, which witnessed stability and economic growth for the first decades after it became independent from France's colonial rule.

In 2002, the country slipped into a deadly civil war, largely along ethnic and religious lines, which lasted for over two years. Peace efforts have been ongoing to help Ivory Coast return to stability and end violence.

Source: Monsters and Critics.
Link: http://news.monstersandcritics.com/africa/news/article_1665664.php/Ivory-Coast-opens-Truth-and-Reconciliation-Commission.