Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Abidjan (Agenzia Fides) - “The situation is very confusing. Fighting continues. The soldiers barricaded in their barracks in Abidjan seem to be resisting. There is no news about Gbagbo, his family and members of his Government. The people are locked in their houses and can not go out,” says Jean Djoman to Fides, the director of development and human promotion at Caritas Côte d'Ivoire, Abidjan, where fighting rages between the forces of President-elect Alassane Ouattara and the outgoing President Laurent Gbagbo.
“Fr Richard Kissi, Director of the diocesan Caritas in Abidjan, who had been kidnapped on March 29, was released yesterday, March 31, after negotiations with the armed group holding him. His condition is good and he was not mistreated by his captors,” says Djoman.
“The humanitarian situation is dramatic, because there have been 30,000 displaced people in different areas in Abidjan over the past few weeks. Since fighting intensified, it has not been possible to conduct any rescue operations because aid workers can not move about. We also know that in the cities in the interior, central, west and south-west, there are many displaced people,” concludes the representative from Caritas.
In the west of the country, now in the hands of Ouattara's forces, humanitarian conditions remain extremely grave. “There are 20,000 people taking refuge at the Catholic mission in Duékoué, while in the two parishes of Guiglo there are another 2,000 refugees. Among these there are also many Liberians, who were housed in a refugee camp nearby that was evacuated. The Liberians have been in Côte d'Ivoire since the civil war in Liberia (which ended in 2003) says Bishop Gaspard Béby Gnéba of Man to Fides.
“In our region, the fighting has stopped but the humanitarian situation is very serious, because all the buildings have been destroyed and looted, even several belonging to the Church were destroyed. For example, an orphanage whose children are now refugees here in Man. In the last two weeks in our diocese, there has been some very violent fighting,” concludes Bishop Gnéba. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 1/4/2011)
