An archivist at the General Staff at the time of the post-electoral crisis, Daouda Dosso, was a prosecution witness in the Laurent Gbagbo and Charles Blé Goudé trial before the International Criminal Court (ICC). He testified on November 14, 2017.
An archivist and a corporal in the Ivorian army at the time of the 2010-2011 post-electoral crisis, Daouda Dosso, a prosecution witness the Laurent Gbagbo and Charles Blé Goudé trial before the ICC, completed his testimony November 14, 2017.
Responding to questions from Blé Goudé’s defense team, the witness said that Liberian mercenaries were mixed up with militiamen close to Laurent Gbagbo in Yopougon Commune, where they were running rampant.
“They [the Liberians] were ruthless, they were the ones who led our young people to commit totally unacceptable errors,” said the witness. “Because of the way they dressed and talked, I knew they were Liberians,” he added.
According to Dosso, these Liberian auxiliaries were active in the largest municipality of Côte d’Ivoire “from mid-March to the liberation of Yopougon.”
Present at Camp Gallieni until March 2011, the witness also testified about the conditions of his departure from the Headquarters of the General Staff of the Armed Forces.
“It was when the soldiers came back from the front and after listening to Com Theater that I left the camp. I took advantage of this mess to leave the camp. Even some people who lived in the camp preferred to leave the camp,” said the witness.
During his testimony, Dosso was questioned at length about details of his work at the General Staff.
After Dosso, the court heard the testimony of Camara Bintou, born in 1990 in Abidjan. Speaking in the Malinké language, she discussed events that took place during the crisis in Yopougon Commune. In particular, she told the court that she saw 18 bodies of people of the Dioula ethnic group killed in the “Mamie Faitai” neighborhood.
”I knew they were Dioula because they were my next-door neighbors,” she added.
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Laurent Gbagbo and Charles Blé Goudé are charged with four counts of crimes against humanity, including murder, rape, and other inhumane acts, or – in the alternative – attempted murder and persecution. The accused allegedly committed these crimes during post-electoral violence in Côte d’Ivoire between December 16, 2010 and April 12, 2011.
This summary comes from Ivoire Justice, which offers monitoring and commentary on the ICC’s proceedings arising from the post-election violence that occurred in Cote d’Ivoire in 2010-2011. It has been translated into English for use on International Justice Monitor.