ckaihatsu
25th May 2011, 23:45
Free Ivory Coast union leader Basil Mahan Gahé!
IUF
Uniting food, farm and hotel workers world-wide
On April 26, Basil Mahan Gahé, general secretary of the national trade union center Dignité (whose food and hotel section is affiliated to the IUF), was arrested at his Abidjan home and taken into detention. The union office was sacked, and many union officers have gone into hiding. Since then, the IUF and other international and national trade unions, including the Ivory Coast's national center UGTCI as well as the Director General of the ILO, have contacted the government authorities to demand his release and guarantees of his physical wellbeing.
To date, the government has refused to respond, or even to disclose the charges on which he is being held. Basil Mahan Gahé's only contact with the outside world has been a brief visit from the Red Cross.
Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara, who was officially invested on May 21, has repeatedly called for national reconciliation - yet a trade union leader is being illegally held without charges.
Act now! - click here to send a message to President Outtara (with copies to Ivory Coast embassies in France and Belgium) calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Basil Mahan Gahé.
http://www.iuf.org/cgi-bin/campaigns/show_campaign.cgi?c=573
Ron Oswald
General Secretary, IUF
International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations (IUF)
8, rampe du Pont-Rouge
1213 Petit Lancy, Switzerland
Tel: +41 22 793 22 33
Fax: +41 22 793 22 38
web-site: www.iuf.org
IUF
Uniting food, farm and hotel workers world-wide
On April 26, Basil Mahan Gahé, general secretary of the national trade union center Dignité (whose food and hotel section is affiliated to the IUF), was arrested at his Abidjan home and taken into detention. The union office was sacked, and many union officers have gone into hiding. Since then, the IUF and other international and national trade unions, including the Ivory Coast's national center UGTCI as well as the Director General of the ILO, have contacted the government authorities to demand his release and guarantees of his physical wellbeing.
To date, the government has refused to respond, or even to disclose the charges on which he is being held. Basil Mahan Gahé's only contact with the outside world has been a brief visit from the Red Cross.
Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara, who was officially invested on May 21, has repeatedly called for national reconciliation - yet a trade union leader is being illegally held without charges.
Act now! - click here to send a message to President Outtara (with copies to Ivory Coast embassies in France and Belgium) calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Basil Mahan Gahé.
http://www.iuf.org/cgi-bin/campaigns/show_campaign.cgi?c=573
Ron Oswald
General Secretary, IUF
International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations (IUF)
8, rampe du Pont-Rouge
1213 Petit Lancy, Switzerland
Tel: +41 22 793 22 33
Fax: +41 22 793 22 38
web-site: www.iuf.org