Cote d'Ivoire

Casualties

Last updated: 21 October 2018

In 2017, three people were killed and 14 injured due to the explosion of a fragmentation grenade.[1] It was not clear if the grenade was thrown or unintentionally initiated, therefore these casualties have not been included in the global total as explosive remnants of war (ERW) casualties.

In 2016, nine ERW casualties were reported in the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire. A boy was injured when the grenade he had picked up on his way to school exploded.[2] Seven workers were also injured in another incident when a found grenade exploded.[3] Media reports also indicated that in 2016 there were several casualties due to hand grenades being thrown, but it was not always reported if those grenades were used as attacks or found as ERW.

The casualty total for 2016 marked a significant increase in the number of ERW casualties reported in Côte d’Ivoire compared to previous years. No new casualties were reported in 2015. In 2014, the Monitor identified one ERW casualty; while farming, a man struck a grenade believed to have been left-over from a conflict in 2011.[4]

The Monitor identified a total of 42 ERW casualties in Côte d’Ivoire from 1999 to 2016 (nine people killed; and 33 injured). The vast majority of casualties, 25, were children, another 12 casualties were adults, and for five casualties the age was not recorded.[5]



[1] “Three ‘Demobilized’ Killed by a Grenade,” BBC World News, 23 May 2017.

[2] “Côte d’Ivoire: Yopougon, une grenade explose dans la main d’un écolier” (“Côte d’Ivoire: Yopougon, a grenade explodes in the hand of a schoolchild”), koaci.com, 19 September 2016.

[3] “Yopougon: Une grenade a encore explosé !” (“Yopougon: one more grenade exploded!”), ivoirematin.com, 30 December 2016.

[4] “Une grenade explose dans son champ et lui arrache le bras” (“A grenade exploded in his farm and severed his arm”), linfodrome.com, 30 May 2014.

[5] See, ICBL, Landmine Monitor Report 2009: Toward a Mine-Free World (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada: October 2009).