AFRICA/IVORY COAST - Ivorians have become psychotic one month after the attack on Kafolo

Friday, 10 July 2020 terrorism   violence   civil society  

Abidjan (Agenzia Fides) - On 11 June, 14 Ivorian soldiers died in a terrorist attack against a joint army/gendarmerie checkpoint in the Kafolo area, on the border with Burkina Faso. This was the second jihadist offensive on Ivorian ground after the fatal attack on Grand-Bassam beach in March 2016 which killed 16 people (see Fides, 14 and 18 March 2016).
A situation that has thrown a large part of the Ivorian population into psychosis, because terrorists have hit hard despite Ivory Coast authorities have strengthened the surveillance of the borders with Mali and Burkina Faso.
For Armand Zozoé, an accountant in an Abidjan company, "Ivory Coast is not yet safe", and returning to the tragic events of 2016, he expressed concern about the approaching presidential election on October 31st. "There is reason to be afraid - he told Fides - and it is questionable whether the Ivorian authorities have adopted adequate security measures to prevent us from falling back into the tragic scenario of 2016".
Nicole Tamiah, a student, is of the same opinion. "We live in fear and concern. When there are murders in a province or region of the Country, insecurity increases in the city. It is difficult for us students to arrive serenely in classrooms". Nicole expects competent authorities to do more to ensure the safety of Ivorians.
Joseph Moussa Traoré, thirty years old, is worried about possible attacks in places of worship. "Personally, today, I am afraid that tomorrow a bomb will explode during mass" he says, entrusting himself to God.
On July 2, a ceremony in honor of the soldiers killed during the attack on Kafolo was held in Abidjan, in the presence of the Head of State, Alassane Ouattara, during which the Minister of Defense, Hamed Bakayoko, a posthumous honor was conferred to soldiers and gendarmes killed in the attack on the mixed control post installed on the border with Burkina Faso. (S.S.) (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides, 10/7/2020)


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