The recent case involving the banning of student unions in Côte d’Ivoire raises profound questions about the role of student associations and their impact on society. The Ivorian government’s announcement to ban all student unions follows the deaths of two students and the arrest of 17 suspects after a standoff between police and a student association with ties to some of the country’s most powerful people.
The drastic move comes after the government raided a student residence controlled by a student union known by its French acronym FESCI, which the government says is linked to the deaths. The National Security Council said agents discovered large caches of weapons as well as several “illegal activities” within the student housing complex on the main campus of the University of Abidjan.
The arrests targeted FESCI’s leadership, including its secretary general, Sié Kambou, who was arrested in connection with the killings, according to a statement from Attorney General Koné Oumar. According to a court filing, “no crime can be committed in the FESCI environment without the named Sié Kambou being informed.”
In a statement from FESCI the following day, the association called the decision “a flagrant violation of the right to association, assembly and peaceful demonstration conferred by the Constitution” and denied any involvement in the deaths.
The tragedy stems from the death last month of a FESCI member, Agui Deagoué. According to a statement from the prosecutor’s office, Deagoué was Kambou’s main rival within the union and was allegedly abducted in the street while on his way to a meeting with him.
Founded in 1990 as a student association, FESCI quickly fell foul of then-president Félix Houphouët-Boigny, who had its leaders arrested for what he considered illegal meetings and demonstrations. Under Laurent Gbagbo’s rule from 2000, FESCI enjoyed privileged status and authorities turned a blind eye to attacks by its members on opposition supporters on and off campus.
In 2011, Gbagbo lost a presidential election but refused to acknowledge his defeat, sparking a wave of violence in which FESCI and its former leaders reportedly attacked opponents of the outgoing government.
Notable former FESCI leaders include Charles Blé Goudé and Guillaume Soro. Blé Goudé was tried for crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, but was acquitted in 2019. Soro, meanwhile, was president of the National Assembly and a combatant during the 2010s war.
“FESCI was a pioneering association serving students in Côte d’Ivoire,” Julien-Geoffroy Kouao, a political scientist based in Abidjan, told The Associated Press. “Unfortunately, today it has deviated into an association whose instruments of action are violence.”
FESCI has taken control of most student housing across the country since the mid-2010s, and according to students, charges excessively high rates for rooms that are often overcrowded or poorly maintained.
However, some have defended the union, arguing that the organization as a whole should not be held responsible for the actions of some of its members. “Today, some people call it a criminal organization. Okay, but we have to recognize that in any organization or society, there are black sheep,” said Désiré N’Guessan Kouamé, a local politician.
Following the National Security Council’s decision, government workers began demolishing the group’s headquarters, but given FESCI’s role in administering student housing, some students expressed doubt that this would be enough to force the organization to close or even seriously dent its power.