Authorities in Côte d’Ivoire have arrested members of a powerful student union suspected of creating terror on campuses in a murder probe after two persons, including the leader’s major competitor, were discovered dead.
Police and prosecutors apprehended six members of the Ivory Coast Student and School Federation (Fesci), one of the country’s student organizations, and suspended all activity.
Many in Côte d’Ivoire hope that this will signal the end of Fesci’s impunity, which has been accused of reigning unchecked over campuses in Abidjan, Ivory Coast’s largest city, for years.
The authorities moved in response to the late September death of student Zigui Mars Aubin Deagoue, a competitor of Fesci’s leader, Sie Kambou.
Deagoue was discovered deceased overnight on September 29-30.
According to a government statement, he was seized by individuals known as Fesci members.
Following a police investigation, investigators arrested and imprisoned six union members, including Kambou.
The prosecution stated that they were being jailed on counts of murder and criminal conspiracy.
They were also arrested for conspiracy to murder in relation to the death of Khalifa Diomande, another student and Fesci member, at the end of August.
Torture claims
Wonbegue Silue, general secretary of Côte d’Ivoire’s General Association of Pupils and Students, stated that the federation has “reigned as absolute master” on Abidjan campuses for years.
During meetings, he stated, “its members would come and grab the microphone off you or make you suffer”.
“They would insist you pay 100 CFA francs (15 US cents) to urinate” in the bathrooms, he claimed.
A security worker at Cocody University in Abidjan stated he intervened multiple times to stop Fesci members from torturing students in the basement.
One afternoon a few years ago, “the screams were atrocious,” he added, recalling “unbearable images” of people being detained, stripped naked, with “burn marks, wounds on their buttocks,” and “slashed.”
Such acts frequently occur with impunity, he noted, speaking on the condition of anonymity for fear of repercussions.
“People don’t talk because they are afraid” when he calls the police, he says.
A student, speaking anonymously, described several rapes and claimed Fesci members might force a woman to become their partner. AFP has been unable to verify the accusations.
AFP contacted several high-ranking Fesci members, who declined to comment on the allegations of violence.
Fesci began in the 1990s as a protest movement against the Democratic Party of Ivory Coast-Democratic African Rally, the country’s sole government party at the time.
Its founding members included a future prime minister, Guillaume Soro, and Charles Ble Goude. The latter went on to become Laurent Gbagbo’s right-hand man, serving as president from 2000 until the 2010 electoral crisis.
Both former Fesci leaders were involved at the highest levels in the post-election violence that murdered over 3,000 people in 2010 and 2011.
‘Extremely powerful’
Over time, the movement became “the state’s preferred interlocutor with students”, political scientist Geoffroy Kouao said.
“You can’t conduct educational policy in Ivory Coast without Fesci,” he added, describing it as “extremely powerful”.
Fesci has even influenced the vote in certain elections, in a country where three quarters of the population is under 35 years of age.
Fesci says its members account for a third of Ivory Coast’s 300,000 students.
It also organises — illegally — the allocation of university rooms, fixing the prices itself, sources said.
The body officially in charge of assigning student lodgings, the Regional Centre for Student Social Services (Crou), has not done so for several years, according to numerous students interviewed by AFP.
They described it as “ineffective”, “corrupt” and overwhelmed.
In early October authorities launched a vast operation to expel illegal residents, promising a fresh allocation of rooms.
But criminology student Franck — whose name AFP has changed due to safety concerns — is among those who had to turn to Fesci to find accommodation because they said they had no response from Crou.
“They asked me to pay rent of 10,000 CFA francs (about $17) a month and a deposit of 200,000 CFA francs (more than $330),” he said — five times more than Crou would charge.
Contacted by AFP, the head of the Crou centre declined to comment.
Political scientist Kouao said Fesci was built on the failures of the university system.
“If, tomorrow, the majority of students are housed, with grants, if there are no longer overcrowded lecture halls and if we have enough teachers, it’s clear that Fesci will no longer have grounds to make demands and it will die a quiet death,” he added.