Violence and indifference

(ES)

Côte d'Ivoire: UNHCR report 1.5 million displaced by conflict

The conflict in Côte d'Ivoire has caused the displacement of a million people in Abidjan, said the UN Agency for Refugees (UNHCR).

The spokeswoman in Geneva for the agency, Melissa Fleming, said that another 500,000 Ivorians have fled their homes in the West.

"Families fleeing the conflict areas have told our people that are afraid of being caught in the crossfire or be hit by stray bullets. Others say they can not afford the financial situation, because banks and businesses have closed and this has caused unemployment ", said Fleming.

She added that the bus terminals are full of passengers desperate to go to areas where there were no clashes.

There are many similarities between the conflicts in Libya and in Côte d'Ivoire. In both cases it has been usurped the will of the people expressed through free and democratic elections in Côte d'Ivoire, and through a peaceful revolution in Libya, as happened in other surrounding countries.

The violence between the militia of the ousted president and the president-elect, and the violent repression exerted by a dictator, has led to the murder of thousands of civilians and the flee of over one million refugees that are crowded at borders and camps to escape the violence.

VIOLENCE.

The international response to conflict in Libya, backed by the Security Council of the UN, is to establish a no-fly zone and the authorization to employ all necessary measures to protect civilians. This has resulted in new shelling by the International Coalition, causing further displacement of civilians fleeing the violence. Resolution 1973 (2011).

VIOLENCE.

The international response to the conflict in Côte d'Ivoire, backed by the Security Council of the UN, is to temporarily reassign resources from the UN mission in Liberia (UNMIL) to the mission in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI). Resolution 1968 (2011).

These are some testimonies from refugees who arrive in the UNHCR camps in Côte d'Ivoire and Liberia

In Jazon we collect the testimony of two girls who claimed to have witnessed the murder of their father by gunmen during the fighting, while his mother has disappeared. UNHCR is taking care of the children of 9 and 16 years old and hope to locate the whereabouts of their mother through our partners in the field.

Four people drowned while crossing the Cavally river to enter Liberia when his boat sank. There were two older men and a woman with her baby, according to an 18-year-old who survived the incident.

A boy of five died of malaria and severe respiratory infection in Janzon's clinic. The child had probably contracted these diseases during their flight in the forest.

VIOLENCE

I do not think violence is the answer to any conflict, unless the purpose is to perpetuate it. Only mutual understanding and negotiation are effective for solving them.

I neither expect nor want a strong action by the international community through military means in Côte d'Ivoire, but I harbor the hope that at least does not become one of many forgotten conflicts. We have the Responsibility to Protect (R2P).

"We must try to explain why today's world, that it's horrible, is nothing more than a moment in the long historical development, that hope has always been one of the dominant forces of revolution and insurrection, and how I still feel hope as my conception of the future "  
Sartre, JP, "Maintenant l'espoir ... (III)", Le Nouvel Observateur, March 24, 1980.

Violence and indifference are the death of hope.