Letter to International Community
Rome, May 11th, 2011.
S.O.S. Yopougon, Abidjan, Ivory Coast
For the urgent attention of:
The Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navanethem Pillay
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres
UNICEF
The World Organization for Peace
The World Health Organization
The African Union
Member States of the European Union
The International Red Cross
Human Rights NGOs
A terrible tragedy is underway in Ivory Coast among the general indifference of the civilized world, which is focused on interests of a different nature and places no value on the lives of African people. EveryOne Group, the Facebook group “Costa d’Avorio – La voce della Diaspora – Per il ritorno alla Pace”, Associazione Sharazade and a network of humanitarian workers are receiving daily requests from the people involved in internal conflicts, but their appeals to international institutions falls on deaf ears, lost in the void of indifference. Bombs are falling on Yopougon, a populous district of Abidjan, killing innocent children, women and men, and spreading terror among survivors. The streets are filled with rotting corpses and shots are being fired everywhere.
The Republican forces are hunting out anyone suspected of being an opponent of the new president, Alassane Ouattara, to assassinate them without a trial, in cold blood. The Red Cross is doing what it can, but the violence is now out of control. The United Nations watch on powerless, as though the protocols for peace in countries ravaged by internal conflicts lay forgotten in the drawers of bureaucracy. It is impossible to count the number of dead and wounded, the victims of disease and malnutrition. A silent and tragic exodus is leading thousands of refugees to other areas of Abidjan, to the villages and outside the country, to Liberia and Ghana. However, the killers from the Republican forces, unpunished, are chasing their alleged enemies everywhere, with the intention of murdering them and their families. The latest victim was a boy from Debrimou in the Dabou province, gunned down without even knowing why. People are without food and are falling victim to pestilence or exhaustion.
The inhabited areas are overcrowded and the people are in a panic. Fleeing families are hiding everywhere and it gets harder and harder every day for them to survive. The network of NGOs is making a desperate appeal to the United Nations and in particular to the High Commissioner for Human Rights; the High Commissioner for Refugees, UNICEF, the World Organization for Peace; the World Health Organization, the African Union, member states of the European Union; the International Red Cross and all human rights organizations, asking for immediate aid (in line with the laws that protect individuals and peoples) for the people and social groups being persecuted in Ivory Coast. We are also calling for the establishment of a peacekeeping force to protect the population. It is also vital that international institutions set up a permanent garrison as soon as possible in Yopougon, suitable structured and equipped to cope with the humanitarian tragedy underway.
Hoping for a prompt reply,
Roberto Malini, Matteo Pegoraro, Dario Picciau, Glenys Robinson – EveryOne Group
Marilina Lucia Castiglioni, Mohamed Konaré dit Shata - Facebook Group “Costa d’Avorio – La voce della Diaspora - Per il ritorno alla Pace”
Associazione Sharazade
Sindacato Europeo dei Lavoratori
Watching The Sky Group
Coordinamento Nazionale Antidiscriminazione
“Il Porto” Association pour la solidarité – San Felice sul Panaro
Kayak for Right to Life
and the network of organizations and individuals for Human Rights
