Postwar Governance: Human Rights and Peacebuilding in Côte d'Ivoire

“The Country Is on One Leg”: An Analysis of Secondary Educated Youths’ Perceptions of the Risks, Challenges, and Opportunities of the Peacebuilding Process in Côte d’Ivoire

“…Whereas victims were heard as part of the Dialogue, Truth and Reconciliation Commission (Commission Dialogue, Vérité et Reconciliation; CDVR)-including 757 children, although their testimonies have been reduced to statistics only (Ladisch & Rice 2017)-the commission largely failed to reach the larger population and was subject to political influence. Not only were the hearings not broadcasted, but the report was also censored and not released until two years after its conclusion (Babo 2019;Piccolino 2018). 4 Making matters worse was the fact that only supporters of Gbagbo and the patriotic galaxy were prosecuted, despite the fact that both sides had committed atrocities, crimes, and human rights abuses, thereby propagating (at least among the Gbagbo supporters) a sense of victor's justice (Babo 2019;Piccolino 2018Piccolino , 2019.…”

“…Not only were the hearings not broadcasted, but the report was also censored and not released until two years after its conclusion (Babo 2019;Piccolino 2018). 4 Making matters worse was the fact that only supporters of Gbagbo and the patriotic galaxy were prosecuted, despite the fact that both sides had committed atrocities, crimes, and human rights abuses, thereby propagating (at least among the Gbagbo supporters) a sense of victor's justice (Babo 2019;Piccolino 2018Piccolino , 2019. 5 In addition, many of the former rebel commanders were appointed as elected officials, members of the armed forces, or civil servants.…”

“…Illustratively, in 2017, former rebels held an elected position in about one in five sub-prefectures of the former rebel-controlled northern half of the country (Martin et al 2021). Yet, tensions have increased in recent years between the Ouattara government and the former rebels who were integrated into the security forces, as evidenced by the many military uprisings that have taken place under Ouattara’s presidency (Bjarnesen & van Baalen 2020; Babo 2019; Martin 2018).…”

“…Like Gbagbo’s, Soro’s candidacy had been rejected for legal reasons 8 . For several years already, the Ouattara administration is speculated to have thwarted Soro’s presidential ambitions by politically marginalizing the former rebel leader and ex-president of the national assembly (Babo 2019). So far, it seems that “the ambition of the emerging generations” has effectively been blocked in the country (Banégas & Popineau 2021:463).…”

“…8. In the framework of the 2016 Constitutional reform and the amending of the electoral code in particular, for instance, a new post of vice-president was created, abrogating the right of the president of the National Assembly to occupy the office of the president in case of death of the president. More recently, Soro was sentenced to 20 years in prison in absentia for embezzlement and money laundering in the aftermath of the 2017 discovery of an arms cache in the house of his spokesman (Babo 2019). …”