While Donzow became guards for hire in the unstable years before the 2002–2005 Ivorian Civil War, their network became associated with northern groups who led the rebel forces. The Donzo Ton, viewed as saviours by some in the south, were also seen as unsophisticated throwbacks to a pre-modern era by many in cosmopolitan Abidjan. The transnational and northern source of the Donzo Ton were seen to conflict with the ethnic nationalism of Ivoirité which feared the presence of Burkinabé labourers and immigrants from Mali as not being "true" Ivorians. Politically, it was Rassemblement des Républicains (RDR) politicians from the north who first entrusted the Donzow with policing duties, and the Donzo Ton leadership became associated with the RDR. Nationalist Presidents Henri Konan Bédié, and later Laurent Gbagbo, condemned these armed Benkadi groups as regressive, divisive and dangerous. It was not surprising, then, when the September 2002 coup began the civil war, northern forces included many identifiable Donzow. One rebel group, the Mouvement populaire ivoirien du Grand Ouest (MPIGO) was thought to be one-fifth Donzow. This participation, while earning the enmity of many in the south, has made leaders of the Donzo Ton Benkadi network powerful figures whose support has been sought by Prime Minister (and former rebel leader) Guillaume Soro's Patriotic Movement of Côte d'Ivoire. Kuruma Lansine, public head of the Benkadi has become a political leader for standing by and speaking for "the dozos".