Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Duekoue (Fides Service)- The number of refugees being sheltered at the Salesian mission in the western Côte d'Ivoire town of Duékoué has risen to 15,000 (see Fides 2 and 3 June 2005), a Salesian priest told Fides over the telephone. “The health and food situation worsens by the hour also because we are in the middle of the rain season” the mission said.
Between the end of May and the beginning of June at least 60 people were killed in attacks and counterattacks between Dioula newcomers from the north and local resident Gueré.
“Now the situation seems calm but fear remains. People prefer to live in tents they are too afraid to return to their homes or fields” the missionary said.
“We are facing a dramatic situation with very limited means: our mission was not meant to accommodate a whole village. We continue to pray with the refugees, keep them company and offer spiritual comfort and the little material means we have” the missionary said.
Around the mission the situation is calm, although there are reports of fighting in other areas. Four Dioula were killed the night before last. Three of them, two young girls and their uncle, were killed in a Dioula area when armed men attacked a home around 11pm on Sunday 5 June eyewitnesses said. The assailants were reportedly local Guere men. “There was lots of shooting in those few minutes which we thought came from Ivorian peacekeepers to make the curfew respected but then we ourselves were attacked in our yard in the centre of the Latif district'', said a local Dioula who asked not to be named. Another Dioula originally from Burkina Faso was killed during the night in the Antenne district. People in the Dioula areas say the attackers were “were Guere Patriotic Alliance militia”. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 7/6/2005 righe 28 parole 359)
