Source: Amnesty International –
The Ivorian authorities must urgently compensate the 133 farmers, their employees and families whose livelihoods were destroyed following the forced evictions on the Gesco Rivière site in Abidjan, Amnesty International said on the first anniversary of the demolitions.
On 21 February 2024, as part of a series of forced evictions in Abidjan neighbourhoods, farms and fishponds belonging to members of the Agro-Past Eburny association were demolished without prior consultation or notice. The farmers had settled on the Gesco Rivière site, a 4.6 hectares area which had been granted to them in 2011 by a state-owned company for the creation of an agro-pastoral zone, according to Guillaume Ballé Zilé, the association’s president.
One year after the demolitions, despite the suspension of forced evictions in November 2024 and the authorities’ repeated commitments to compensate and rehouse those affected, none of the farmers has received compensation for their losses, estimated to be at around 650 million FCFA, or 1 million euros, according to president of the Agro-Past Eburny association.
Where evictions are unavoidable, the authorities must fully adhere to national and international human rights standards.
Marceau Sivieude, Amnesty International’s interim regional director for West and Central Africa
“While we have welcomed the authorities’ commitment to suspend evictions and demolitions in Abidjan and to implement compensation measures, the Gesco Rivière farmers have so far not benefited from any of these plans. It is essential that all those affected by forced evictions who have not received compensation are able to benefit from it without delay,” said Marceau Sivieude, Amnesty International’s interim regional director for West and Central Africa.
Guillaume Ballé Zilé said: “Since February 2024, no government body, in particular the Ministry of Animal Production and Fisheries Resources, to which we were reporting, has reacted, nor has the Yopougon town hall or the Autonomous District of Abidjan.”