"We
Ivorians were not expecting this, especially our Muslim community...
which is paying a heavy price" in the crisis, Imam Koudouss told
Agence France-Presse (AFP) Tuesday, October 22.
"Our
concern is the same as everyone's - that this war could turn into an
ethnic war, or a religious war. You have what happened in Rwanda,
Burundi, Somalia. When a war becomes an ethnic or religious war, you
cannot stop it. That's my big fear," he said.
The
situation in Daloa was especially troubling, Imam Koudouss said. The
town, the capital of the western cocoa-growing region, was recaptured by
loyalist forces last week after three days under rebel control.
"Monday
morning, I was informed that Daloa's local authorities made a report
yesterday about the burial of 56 Muslims who had been shot dead by
security forces. Nineteen bodies are still in the streets today,"
he said.
"With
each incident like this, I call President [Laurent] Gbagbo and I inform
him of it. If security forces, who should protect people and make them
safe... kill part of the population on the basis of ethnicity or
religion, that's serious," the imam said.
Gbagbo
asked the paramilitary gendarmes to give him a report on the incident by
Tuesday, according to Koudouss.
Since
the mutiny began September 19, Muslims and certain ethnic groups and
nationalities suffered hate attacks.
"We're
asking the authorities to spare the Muslim community, which has never
posed a security threat to the state since the Ivory Coast's birth. Even
President Houphouet Boigny publicly apologized to our community for
having done wrong by us."
"If
the mutineers are rebelling, our community shouldn't have to pay for
that," he said.
The
Imam plans to create his own mediation committee, which will include
representatives from all religions and from human rights groups, to work
toward ending ethnic and religious hatred in Ivory Coast. He hopes to
win Gbagbo's support for the effort.
Koudouss
said Muslims in Ivory Coast had been marginalized since independence,
but the religious tensions were kept in check under Boigny, the first
President after independence from France.
"The
situation today has its roots in 1993, with the concept of
'Ivorian-ness' created by President [Henri Konan] Bedie. Islam is the
oldest of the revealed religions in Ivory Coast. We've had mosques for
800 years," he said.
"We
don't understand this persecution. Officially, we represent 40 percent
of the population, and we are the largest religious community in the
country," he said.
"The
scars are there. You can forgive, not forget. What's happening is
horrible. But as clerics, we keep hope. For the last three days, the
entire Muslim community has fasted and prayed for peace. The faithful
must never despair, for ourselves and for the country."
Meanwhile,
Ivory Coast's armed forces have had no role in ethnic killings of
civilians in the western town of Daloa, presidential adviser Toussaint
Alain said Tuesday.
"As
in Abidjan, people outside of the defense and public security forces,
dressed in military fatigues, are attacking the civilian population in
Daloa with the aim of tarnishing the image and work of national
troops," Alain said in a statement.
Alain,
an adviser to Gbagbo, called the killings "extremely serious and
reprehensible" and said "authorities reserve a right of
pursuit in light of such acts."
Residents
in Daloa accused security forces of killing ethnic Dioulas, who are
mainly Muslims from the north.
Hundreds
of civilian Muslims in Daloa have fled their homes to seek shelter at
the local mosque.
Riot
police have been deployed to keep order in Daloa since the government
recaptured it from rebels one week ago, Toussaint said.
