Ivory Coast

The 'zone of confidence' (zone de confiance) in Ivory Coast does not live up to its name. Created as a buffer between warring parties, it has turned into one of the most unsafe parts of the country. On June 28, the team working for MSF in the zone saw this illustrated once again, when they received 12 wounded people in Bangolo Hospital. Eleven of these patients sustained serious injuries requiring referral to the MSF-supported hospital in Man, outside the contested area. Only two months before, five people had been killed and ten injured in a similar bout of fighting.

In addition to ongoing activities in the north and west of the country, MSF has donated medical and surgical equipment to hospitals in Abidjan to help treat people wounded during the past week's violence. An MSF cargo of eight additional tons of emergency relief materials, including medical and surgical items, arrived today in Ivory Coast.

The situation remains very tense in Abidjan, the Ivory Coast, following the violence of the past week.

Abidjan, November 5, 2004 - The international humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is extremely concerned about the impact on civilians of the government offensive launched yesterday (Nov 4) on the city of Bouake in the New Forces-controlled zone of the Ivory Coast.

With a 1,500-person capacity, MACA prison in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, is perpetually overcrowded, averaging 5,400 detainees. The horrendous conditions give rise to cholera epidemics and tuberculosis.

MSF volunteer surgeon Bruce Frank, MD didn't really feel he was in a war-zone when he first arrived in Ivory Coast in mid-December.