Several LGBT+ activists in Ivory Coast are concerned about a wave of“homophobic attacks” verbal and physical attacks fueled by social networks, which have been targeting homosexual and transgender people for a month, they told AFP on Thursday, September 5.
“Since the beginning of August, around thirty physical homophobic attacks have been recorded” by the LGBT+ social movement in Côte d’Ivoire, which brings together different associations, says Brice Donald Dibahi, 32, founder of the NGO Gromo, one of the most active in the community in the country.
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In Ivory Coast – where the law does not penalize homosexuality, unlike in many African countries – there “There has always been homophobia, whether in the streets or on social media, but I have never seen this kind of uprising”he added.
“I have never seen a movement of this magnitude”confirms Louna, 44, director of the NGO Droit à la différence (DADI) and a transgender woman, who had to close the headquarters of her association last week and is preparing to leave Abidjan. She claims to have heard threatening comments in recent weeks in the streets of her neighborhood, such as: “You are perverting society so you should not exist”
“We are afraid to go to the market”
Five complaints against unknown persons have been filed for “assault and battery” or « injures » this month, reports Brice Donald Dibahi, specifying that the attacks are mainly taking place in working-class communes of Abidjan, such as Yopougon, but the political capital Yamoussoukro is also affected, according to a resident contacted by AFP who says he has been threatened.
“We are afraid to go to the market, to go to a restaurant to eat, because we never know where the blow might come from.”continues Mr. Dibahi. The wave of hatred began on social networks at the beginning of August, after rumors denouncing a case of pedocriminality which allegedly involved a homosexual person.
Also read the report: These LGBT+ Africans who seek asylum in France to flee persecution: “If they send me back to my country, it’s death”
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Several publications have called for a peaceful march this weekend in Abidjan against the « woubis »a word born in Côte d’Ivoire and which the LGBT+ community first used to refer to itself, before it became pejorative. At the end of 2021, the issue of homosexuality had emerged in the public debate after heated exchanges in the National Assembly. The mention of “sexual orientation” as a ground for discrimination had been removed from the penal code.
On the African continent, homosexuality is criminalized in about thirty countries and some have recently toughened their laws, such as Burkina Faso, Ghana and Uganda. Ivory Coast is often considered one of the most liberal countries in West Africa in terms of morals.
