Ivory Coast abductions, deaths sow activist panic

ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Kader Coulibaly's younger brother vanished when gunmen raided his sleepy suburb in Ivory Coast's main city last week, and like hundreds of supporters of presidential claimant Alassane Ouattara, he fears the worst.

"It was about 6 or 7 in the evening on Saturday. He was out in a local bar near our house when two pickup trucks of military men drove through the neighborhood shooting. There was panic," he said.

"People say he was taken away, along with his friend. I searched the police, I asked at the gendarmes. Nothing. I hope, I hope, I hope. But for how long?"

Ever since a violent protest last week calling on incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo to concede defeat to Ouattara after a disputed November 28 election, rights groups and Ouattara supporters say gunmen have roamed pro-Ouattara neighborhoods at night, killing and kidnapping activists for his party.

Gbagbo's camp denies that abductions or killings are taking place and accuses Ouattara's of trying to soil their name.

As fear grips neighborhoods, residents have set up early warning systems. Women bash cooking pots when they see the militias arrive, men blow whistles and Kader also said youths had set up night watch checkpoints to defend their homes.

The United Nations human rights chief said on Sunday there was evidence of "massive" violations in Ivory Coast, saying more than 50 people had been killed in past days and hundreds abducted from their homes.

"It's easy talk about abductions, it's easy to talk about death squads, with no proof," Gbagbo's interior minister Emile Guirieoulou told a news conference on Monday. "For evidence of kidnapping, the person kidnapped must have an identity."

"I PRAY THEY DIDN'T KILL HIM"

Kader says his brother, Abdoulaye Coulibaly, certainly has an identity. He is a well known Ouattara party activist, the head of the party's operations in the rebel-held northern town of Korhogo, and was staying with friends in Abidjan.

"Everyone knew who he was. Now I have no idea where he is. I really fear the worst. I pray to God they didn't kill him."

The last time death squads were used against political activists opposed to Gbagbo was after a failed coup attempt against him in 2002-3, sparking a brief civil war that has left the country divided ever since.

During that era, they killed Yerefe Camara, a well known opposition activist, in an act condemned by the U.S. embassy.

"When people are victims of extrajudicial killings there must be an investigation, and ... accountability," U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said on Sunday.

"Abducted persons are reportedly taken by force to illegal places of detention where they are held incommunicado ... Some have been found dead in questionable circumstances." Guirieoulou denied this and he praised pro-Gbagbo soldiers for their restraint during protests last Thursday in which 20 people were killed. Gbagbo's camp says 10 of the dead were security forces lynched by angry pro-Ouattara mobs. The International Criminal Court has warned all actors in the conflict that they will be prosecuted for any abuses.

Security sources and Ouattara's party say in many cases foreign mercenaries, including Liberian militias, are involved. Some diplomats think there could be as many as 1,000 of them.

"That is an insult," said Guirieoulou, "to say our gendarmerie are not strong enough to maintain order so have to call on Liberian mercenaries."

But victims say they are less about law enforcement than fear. Salif Kone, a 57-year-old driver, escaped an attack on his north Abidjan neighborhood by masked men firing tear gas and bullets.

"They didn't kill, but many were wounded. But they weren't speaking French. It was maybe English, but I just don't know."

(Editing by Giles Elgood)