# Duékoué massacre (28-29 March 2011)

URL: https://allhistories.com/ivory-coast/timeline/2011-duekoue-massacre
Location: Duékoué, Côte d'Ivoire
Themes: main-event

On 28 and 29 March 2011 hundreds of civilians were killed in the western town of Duékoué, a mixed town of Guéré and northern or immigrant communities, when pro-Ouattara forces took control of it. The International Committee of the Red Cross said at least 800 people died, Caritas spoke of more than a thousand, and a UN spokesman reported 330 killed, mostly executed by Republican Forces and allied traditional hunters, while a UN human rights spokesman cited 244 verified dead. Pro-Gbagbo militias were also blamed for killings. The area around Duékoué had long been a flashpoint over land, citizenship and the presence of northern and Burkinabé migrants in Guéré territory, and earlier clashes in January 2011 had killed dozens. After the March violence tens of thousands of people sheltered at a Catholic mission and fled. Ouattara pledged an inquiry and sanctions, yet prosecutions concentrated on Gbagbo supporters, and critics said the victor's justice left the western victims without redress. At the date of this event the principal authority over the largest part of present-day Côte d'Ivoire, by the convention of this dataset, lay with Laurent Gbagbo, President of Côte d'Ivoire (2000–2011). The government was headed by Prime Minister Guillaume Soro. The massacre is among the worst atrocities of the conflict and remains politically sensitive. Accounts differ on the numbers and responsibility, and the lack of accountability for pro-Ouattara forces is a continuing grievance. Questions about the western towns and the dozos remain central to any assessment of the war, and the conflict over land there has not fully disappeared.

## Why it matters
Duékoué symbolises the ethnic and land tensions of the west and the unresolved question of impartial accountability.

Ruler at the Time: [Laurent Gbagbo](https://allhistories.com/ivory-coast/rulers/laurent-gbagbo)

Prime Minister of Côte d'Ivoire (Gbagbo government): Guillaume Soro

## Sources
- [Duékoué](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Du%C3%A9kou%C3%A9)
- [Second Ivorian Civil War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Ivorian_Civil_War)
- [Cote-d-Ivoire-Massacre-in-Duekoue](https://www.fidh.org/en/region/Africa/cote-d-ivoire/Cote-d-Ivoire-Massacre-in-Duekoue)
- [www.caritas.org](https://www.caritas.org/2011/04/caritas-condemns-cote-divoire-massacre/)