Ivory Coast torn by mass killings since election

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast -- The entrance to the morgue is like a mouth through which comes an awful smell. It hits you as far back as the parking lot and makes your eyes water. From a dozen yards away, it's strong enough to make you throw up.

What lies inside is proof of mass killings in this once-tranquil country of 21 million, where the sitting president is refusing to give way to his successor. Nearly every day since Laurent Gbagbo was declared the loser of the Nov. 28 election, the bodies of people who voted for his opponent have been showing up on the sides of highways.

Their families have gone from police station to police station looking for them, but the bodies are hidden in plain sight in morgues turned into mass graves. Records obtained from four of the city's nine morgues show that at least 113 bullet-ridden bodies have been brought in since the election.

The bodies are being held hostage and not released to families. Morgue workers say government minders are stationed outside to monitor what goes in or out.

A list of the dead on the laptop of a company that manages three downtown morgues shows the bodies began arriving Dec. 1, the night the country's electoral commission was due to announce that opposition leader Alassane Ouattara had won.

"The overwhelming number of victims of political violence in Abidjan were either real or perceived supporters of Ouattara," said Human Rights Watch senior researcher Corinne Dufka, the author of a report on the post-election violence. "Many were picked up and killed simply on the basis of their family name."

Families have been allowed inside the morgues only long enough to identify their relatives, if at all. They cannot take their loved ones for burial because the government, still controlled by Gbagbo, has not given the go-ahead for autopsies on bodies with bullet wounds. Funeral home directors say the procedure is normally approved within 48 hours.

No autopsies allowed

Gbagbo's government has denied committing any abuses. However, assistant state prosecutor Jean-Claude Aboya conceded that autopsies have not been conducted.

"We're aware of these bodies in the morgues," said Aboya. "The chief prosecutor has told us that there will be an investigation, but he's holding off until things are calmer before proceeding."

Bodies have also been found on highways, freeway medians and trash heaps, and in the lagoons coursing through this palm-lined commercial capital that was once considered among the most stable in Africa.

The United Nations estimates that more than 100 people have disappeared and at least 296 have been killed, based on calls to a U.N. hotline from family members. They cannot investigate because Gbagbo ordered the U.N. to leave the country after it certified Ouattara's victory.