Yopougon mass grave: 26 years on, Amadou Coulibaly contrasts past violence with the Ouattara era

Communications Minister and government spokesperson Amadou Coulibaly paid tribute on October 27, 2026, to the 57 people found dead in Yopougon after violence surrounding Côte d’Ivoire’s October 2000 presidential election. He described their deaths as a symbol of the political violence of that period and wrote, “We cannot forget them.” Coulibaly also defended the record of Alassane Ouattara, who has been in power since 2011, saying Ivorians now live with freedom, democracy, justice, and respect for life. An investigation published in December 2000 by the FIDH and Reporters Without Borders had favored a theory of reprisals involving gendarmes from the Abobo camp.