IVORY COAST: ALASSANE DRAMANE OUATTARA EXPORTING CRIMINAL ACTIVITIES

The fate of the Ivorian opposition members in foreign countries seems sombre according to different people to whom we have spoken to and some acts that have taken place. A former commando-gendarme known as Johnny Patcheko who fled his country following the 2010-11 for his life was attacked by a gang in a Paris Restaurant. The leader of the gang known as Taliban Choco is parading in France just after few days in police custody. The victim sustained several knife wounds and he was hospitalised for days. The passport of Mr Johnny Patcheko has been confiscated by the Ivorian authorities. He is accused of insulting the current president, Alassane Dramane Ouattara. Mr Johnny Patcheko and his friends are fighting for the document of the first.
In Germany, other opponents (Alfred Oyourou, Charles Miézan Aka and Pascal Ohouo) said they constantly receive phone calls threatening their lives. “We have tried to get back to the callers in vein. The numbers do not respond when we either call or send texts”. But, they concluded that they are “seriously concerned for our lives and families”.
In England, one of the opposition leaders, Mr Sylvain De Bogou the General Secretary of the Ivorian Popular Front goes through menaces against his physical integrity on a daily basis. One of his close friends, Sery Ange has said. They both reported the matters to Paddington Police Station (London). Mr SiluéNalougo Moussa,a Physics and Chemistry Lecturer, is a political asylum seeker in England.According to the few persons who know him, he is very afraid to go out alone because he does not feel safe; they said that their friend is “in hell” as “there are people who want him dead or brought back to Ivory Coast where he has been persecuted between 2012 and 2016 following the armed overthrowing of President Laurent Gbagbo in 2011”. As a lecturer, he was sent to Korogho (nord of Ivory Coast believed to be Alassane Dramane Ouattara’s zone). The opponents of the current government compare Korogho to Siberia where former opponents of the USSR regime were sent to. Korogho is where President Laurent Gbagbo was imprisoned before landing to The Hague in 2011.hostile zone for Ivorian Popular Front members. In December 2015, Mr Silué Nalougo Moussa’s friend, Bolou Zouzoua was kidnapped and later found dead in Korogho. Mr Silué Nalougo Moussa escaped the same kind of kidnapping in Boundiali the same month. For Alassane Dramane Ouattara and his followers, Mr Silué Nalougo Moussa has committed several crimes: he is from the nord but he refused to be a member of the RDR (Alassane Dramane Ouattara’s parti), he is a member of the Ivorian Popular Front and a leader of the FESCI (Student Union thought to be pro-Gbagbo) in the Abobo borough another area controlled by Alassane Dramane Ouattara’s supporters. Mr Silué Nalougo Moussa’s parents do receive regular visits from the state police and military; they want to know his whereabouts.
Let us mention that Alassane Dramane Ouattara’s government does not hide its threats against the opposition members (whether they are high ranking or just supporters or sympathisers. Koua Justin, Dr Assoa Adou, Mrs Simone Ehivet Gbagbo and at least other 800 IPF members and sympathisers are in prisons across the country and they are used by the Ivorian government to blackmail the opposition.
According to many credible sources (religious people, media and politicians), the Microbes (armed children) that Alassane Dramane Ouattara used to get to power (among others such as France) are now used to attack and kill mainly the members of the Ivorian Popular Front.
Looking at the struggle that the opposition parties are going through in their homeland, it is possible that the end of the tunnel for the members of the opposition parties abroad is far, too far indeed.

By McIntosh Zadi,
Rome