Student Federation of Côte d'Ivoire

The Student Federation of Cote d’Ivoire (FESCI) (French: "Fédération estudiantine et scolaire de Côte d'Ivoire" ) is a youth and student organization in Côte d'Ivoire that human rights organizations accuse of being a violent gang controlled by President Laurent Gbagbo’s Ivorian Popular Front (FPI). [ [http://www.lepatriote.net/lpX3.asp?action=lire&rname=Politique&id=34787 "Actes de barbarie répétés FESCI, la milice estudiantine de Gbagbo" Le Patriote No. 2290 23 May 2007] ]

Founded in the early 1990s as a student union, the FESCI was banned by the government of Henri Konan Bedie. Prominent past members included Charles Blé Goudé (Secretary general of FESCI 2001-2003, and later founder and leader of the l’Alliance de la jeunesse patriotique which, like the FESCI, was involved in xenophobic street violence during the civil war) and Guillaume Soro (Secretary general of FESCI 1995-1998 [ [http://yanko.chez-alice.fr/ci/crise/politik.html Côte d'Ivoire | Biographie de quelques hommes politiques ] ] , now Secretary general of the "Forces nouvelles" group which rebelled against the ruling party). [ [http://ivoirediaspora.loccidental.net/news.php?readmore=1752 IvoireDiaspo "FPI : Bataille pour le contrôle de la FESCI" 10 January, 2007.] ]

After 1999, the FESCI supported the ruling party, and has been blamed in numerous acts of violence and dozens of murders of the political opponents of the FPI amid waves of attacks on individuals seen as foreign. Human Rights groups also allege the FESCI runs protection rackets [ [http://www.lenouveaureveil.com/a.asp?n=186740&p=1300 Le Nouveau Réveil "Dérive fesciste : Les élèves et étudiants de Célia versent sous la contrainte une partie de leur bourse aux Fescistes" N°1300, 14 April 2006] ] for businesess, students, and scholars operating on the nation's university campuses. The opposition press refers to the group as "Fescistes", a play on the word fascists.

In December 2006, Serge Koffi was elected head of the FESCI, which was seen as an internal split between the new leadership, entitled the ’Coalition pour la réhabilitation de la FESCI (COREF)’’, and seen to be controlled by Kacou Brou [ [http://news.abidjan.net/article/?n=231701 Le Matin d'Abidjan "crise a la fesci - Kacou Brou dit KB : " On n`a pas besoin de ce conflit inutile" 10 January, 2007.] ] and on the other hand, its former patron Charles Blé Goudé and his supporters Jean Yves Dobopieu, Ahoua Stallone and Dacoury Richard. [ [http://ivoirediaspora.loccidental.net/news.php?readmore=1805 IvoireDiaspo "CRISE au sein de la Fesci/ Koffi Serge, secrétaire général : Le mal c’est Blé Goudé" 17 January, 2007] ] Early 2007 saw public disorder between these factions, including gunplay on the nation's university campuses.

References

*(French) [http://cipdtf.ruwenzori.net/EtudiezEnCI24Heures.htm Racket, abus et terreur sur les campus : Incursion au coeur de la FESCI]
* [http://www.peacewomen.org/news/Coted'Ivoire/July05/School_violence.html University campus polarised by political violence(IRIN,July 2005)]
* [http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=70003 COTE D'IVOIRE: Violence in University campus 9IRN, February 2007)]
*(Dutch) [http://cas1.elis.rug.ac.be/avrug/ivoor.htm Karel Arnaut. "De strijd voor een nieuwe natie: 'jeugd' en geweld in Ivoorkust". 2003, Vakgroep Afrikaanse Talen en Culturen, University of Ghent.]
* [http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAFR310022007?open&of=ENG-313 CÔTE D'IVOIRE Voices of women and girls, forgotten victims of the conflict] On FESCI Violence, AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL, 2005
* [http://hrw.org/backgrounder/africa/cote1205/3.htm#_ftnref42 Human Rights Violations by Government Security Forces: 2005 Trends] On FESCI Violence, Human Rights Watch, 2006.