Ivory Coast: sharp altercations at MACA, Abidjan prison

Text by: RFI Follow

Shots were fired within the confines of the remand center after intense tension between two groups of prison officers. The omnipotence and abusive authority of the supervisor Kassoum Koné, known as "The Machine", is believed to be the cause of the unrest.

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With our correspondent in Abidjan, François Hume-Ferkatadji

Is this a mutiny within MACA, a gang war? By creating a crowd yesterday morning in the courtyard of Abidjan prison, detainees and some of the prison staff probably wanted to question the abusive authority of a crooked supervisor, known as "The Machine", at the head of a vast racket system.

This uprising is the sign of a general fed up against its practices, which "  violate the ethics and deontology of prison officers  ", suggests Claude Dassé, Ivorian journalist and author of an investigation into the embezzlement of Kassoum Koné, known as "The Machine". A violent man accused of stealing money from prisoners and visitors. 

The tension increased after certain agents began to unearth the fetishes that "The Machine" had hidden in the grounds of MACA, a mystical practice to impose its authority on the largest prison in the country. An action of defiance which angered the head of the self-proclaimed prison, "The Machine" being described as very believing and adept at magic .

"  With his goons, they set out to create a mess and free prisoners, for revenge,  " said a witness. The gendarmerie had to intervene and fire several shots in the direction of the fugitives. Three detainees were reportedly injured, one in the shoulder and two in the legs. This same witness affirms that "La Machine" was immobilized and handcuffed in the prison yard, then taken away by the gendarmerie.

The Minister of Justice, Sansan Kambile, discreetly went there yesterday, to "  restore calm  ", assures his cabinet. The Ministry of Justice announced in a press release that an investigation has been opened "in  order to locate the responsibilities in the occurrence of these unfortunate events  " and affirms that "  calm has returned within the prison establishment  ".

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• Ivory Coast
• Justice

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