Scenes of panic in Abidjan schools after spate of child kidnappings

Parents break down the doors of the Sicogi 9 school in Yopougon to find their children. Photo by Julien Appia.

Spooked by unfounded rumours that two students had been kidnapped, parents broke into a school in Abidjan to pick up their children on Thursday morning. Our Observer witnessed the scenes of panic.

Fear reigns in Ivory Coast’s economic capital after 25 children were kidnapped and murdered over a period of three months. The bodies of the children, often very young, were found either decapitated or mutilated without their genitals. In response, authorities have announced the additional deployment of 1500 men to fight the recent wave of kidnappings.

In the Abidjan neighbourhood of Yopougan, rumours that two students had been kidnapped spread like wildfire. Suddenly, parents arrived en masse at schools to break down the doors and take their children home. Our Observer, Julian Appia, captured the pandemonium on his mobile phone.

Teachers can be seen desperately trying to reason with parents who frantically search for their children. Other witnesses described how mothers asked people to open the boots of parked cars to make sure there were no kids hidden inside.

“Anyone could have kidnapped children in the chaos”

The scene was surreal. When I arrived, the parents were gathered outside the entrance to the school Sicogi 9. They begged the teachers to let them in so that they could get their kids. The teacher tried reasoning, explaining that they couldn’t do anything without the approval of their superiors. Some parents even began accusing them of being complicit in the kidnappings and threatened to break down the doors.

The teachers reluctantly opened the doors and afterwards, it was chaos. People were running in classrooms screaming the names of their children. The students panicked, and those who couldn’t find their parents broke down in tears.

According to our Observer Julien Appia, families forced open the doors of the school Sideci Bad in Yopougon, a neighbourhood in Abidjan.

"We must learn lessons from what happened this morning in Yopougon"

Teachers were angry: they shouted at people to stop, adding that others could even take advantage of the panic to kidnap children. Anybody could get into the school, I myself even got inside without any problem. I saw a small boy in tears. He was looking for his big brother, a student in the same school. I took him by the hand and offered my help, which he naively accepted. Nobody came to ask me why I took a child I didn’t know with me. Moments later we found his brother. Judging by the way he looked at me, I think he was genuinely scared that I may have had malicious intensions.

We must learn lessons from what happened this morning. The parents’ irrational fear led to a very dangerous situation that could have caused more kidnappings. Should we temporarily close schools, or perhaps put policemen in front of them while investigations are carried out into the kidnappings? We’re waiting to see what the government decides to do.

A policeman tries to calm protesting families in Yopougon, a neighbourhood in Abidjan. Photo by Alain Doh Bi.

Sporadic protests also took place in Yopougon and in Cocody, in the presence of policemen who tried to reassure parents. On the margins of the protests, journalists also reported the beating to death of a man suspected of having kidnapped a student in Yopougon.

A man suspected of kidnapping children lies dead, beaten to death. Photo by Alain Doh Bi.

Police in Ivory Coast explained that the rumours that led to Thursday morning’s chaos in Yopougon and Codocy were completely unfounded:

What happened followed from rumours or messages spread by individuals or by mobile phone. The police ask citizens to refrain from taking justice into their own hands against those they consider to have kidnapped children. We appeal for calm and ask people to get in touch with us if they come across any suspicious cases.

Aside from the man beaten in Cocody, at least three other people suspected to have kidnapped children were reportedly assaulted on January 29.

Mothers come to pick up their children from school in Cocody, a neighbourhood of Abidjan. Photo by Julien Appia.

This article was written by FRANCE 24 journalist Alexandre Capron (@alexcapron).