France losing, US trying

[Annie]

Gee, wish someone else would have something else to say:

'All that is French will be attacked'

December 02 2003 at 03:24PM

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=68&art_id=qw1070371441872B222&set_id=1

Abidjan - Waving knives and machetes, pro-government mobs extended their siege of France's main military base in Ivory Coast for a second day on Tuesday - demanding that French peacekeepers withdraw from the former French colony to allow government forces to resume attacks on rebels.

Hundreds of demonstrators - better armed on Tuesday, after carrying only rocks and planks on Monday - lit bonfires in the streets and heaved stones over barracks walls bristling with concertina wire.

For a second day, French soldiers fired tear gas and stun grenades into the crowd, which started gathering on Monday at the base in Ivory Coast's commercial capital, Abidjan.

Pro-government militias also delivered an ultimatum on Tuesday to the French: French peacekeepers had until 8pm on Tuesday to withdraw from the West African nation's ceasefire lines.

If not, militia leaders and youth groups said, their fighters would open attacks on the estimated 16 000 French civilians and 4 000 French troops living in Ivory Coast.

"All that is French will be attacked," pledged Narcisse N'Depo, a youth leader outside the French military base.

French diplomats refused immediate comment on the threat, and it was unclear how big a following the militias had, to carry out the ultimatum.

Tensions come with a nine-month civil war here officially over, since July. However, a power-sharing and peace deal between rebels and government has stalled for months, and Ivory Coast remains split between rebel-held north and government-held south.

Government-allied militias, youth groups and many in the armed forces themselves increasingly are demanding that French peacekeepers, joined by about 1 000 West African troops, get out of the way to allow fighting to resume.

West African leaders say renewed war here would destabilize the region as surrounding nations try to pull out of civil wars of their own.

In an interview published on Tuesday in France's Le Figaro daily, President Laurent Gbagbo said of his supporters, "I can understand why they are fed up."

"The problem is that the French are between them and the rebels and they want to finish with the war," Gbagbo told Le Figaro.

However, Gbagbo said of the French peacekeeping force: "I am the one who asked the Licorne troops to be here and I have not changed my mind." - Sapa-AP

 

[5stringJeff]

Interesting... I wonder if the French would bow to UN pressure if that body voted all French out of their former colonies. It would seem that France is not welcome in the Ivory Coast, whereas the US is welcomed in Iraq by many, if not most, of the Iraqi population.

 

[waltky]

Dis cat hath got to go...

Obama: Gbagbo Must 'Stand Down' Immediately
April 05, 2011 - U.S. President Barack Obama says Ivory Coast's defiant leader, Laurent Gbagbo, must step down from power immediately to prevent further bloodshed and end the violence that has gripped the country.

Mr. Obama said in a statement Tuesday that he strongly supports actions by U.N. peacekeepers and French forces, both of whom attacked Gbagbo targets on Monday with the stated goal of protecting civilians. The West African bloc ECOWAS promised a "safe and dignified exit" for Mr. Gbagbo if he yields power to Alassane Ouattara, recognized by most countries as the true winner of last November's Ivory Coast presidential election.

In Ethiopia, the head of the African Union's Peace and Security Council said Mr. Gbagbo may be willing to leave office and accept Mr. Ouattara as president. The official, Ramtane Lamamra, said AU leaders are ready to fly to Abidjan to help work out a transition of power. The top U.S. diplomat on African affairs, Johnnie Carson, said Tuesday in Washington that an earlier U.S. offer to give Mr. Gbagbo a safe haven in the United States is no longer on the table because he said the incumbent president has committed serious human rights violations.

Carson also said that what is happening in Ivory Coast is a real test case for democracy not only in Ivory Coast but throughout Africa. For more than three months, Mr. Gbagbo has resisted intense pressure from the AU, ECOWAS, and the United Nations to leave office. In the background of Tuesday's diplomatic developments, pro-Ouattara forces besieged Mr. Gbagbo's home in Abidjan.

Source

See also:

Negotiations Continue Over Gbagbo's Exit
April 05, 2011 - Ivory Coast's incumbent president is negotiating the terms of his surrender, after United Nations and French troops attacked his forces in the commercial capital, Abidjan.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe says incumbent Ivorian president Laurent Gbagbo is "very close" to leaving office and allowing Alassane Ouattara to take charge of the country. The France and the United Nations want a written guarantee from Mr. Gbagbo that he will step down. African Union officials say Mr. Gbagbo told Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz that he is ready to give up power and recognize Mr. Ouattara as Ivory Coast's president. The Economic Community of West African States says it will ensure a safe and dignified exit for Mr. Gbagbo, who has taken refuge in an underground bunker.

Fighters backing Mr. Ouattara briefly battled Gbagbo troops for a sixth day in Abidjan before Mr. Gbagbo's army chief of staff, Phillipe Mangou, called for a ceasefire that he says will protect civilians and soldiers as well as the incumbent president, his family and members of his government. The United Nations says its peacekeepers will offer protection to members of Laurent Gbagbo's military who lay down their weapons.

Hamadoun Toure, the spokesman for the U.N. mission in Ivory Coast said, "They said they are going to instruct their troops on the ground to stop fighting immediately. This will be a very, very good move for the end of the game. We are having problems for the last, I would say, four months, and this is an opportunity to put an end to the Ivorian crisis." Pro-Ouattara fighters launched their offensive after negotiations failed to resolve Ivory Coast's political crisis.

Mr. Gbagbo says he was reelected when the constitutional council annulled as fraudulent nearly 10 percent of the ballots cast in November's presidential run-off election. Mr. Outarra's claim to the presidency is based on electoral commission results certified by the United Nations. U.S. President Barack Obama is calling on Mr. Gbagbo to step down to end the violence. In a written statement Tuesday, Mr. Obama said every day that the fighting persists brings more suffering and further delays the future of peace and prosperity that the people of Ivory Coast deserve.

Source

 

[waltky]

Gbagbo's day of reckoning comes...

Ivory Coast president urges calm after Gbagbo is arrested
April 11, 2011 -- Ouattara declares the "dawn of a new era of hope"; He says he has asked the justice minister to start legal proceedings against Gbagbo; Gbagbo's capture is "victory for the democratic will of the Ivorian people," Obama says; Gbagbo refused to step down after losing an election to Alassane Ouattara

Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara called for calm Monday after forces stormed the president's residence and arrested Laurent Gbagbo, whose refusal to accept the results of a presidential election last year plunged the West African nation into civil war. "Finally, we have reached the dawn of a new era of hope," Ouattara said in a televised address. "We had hoped this transfer had been different, but we have to focus on today." He urged his countrymen to lay down their weapons and said he has asked the justice minister to start legal proceedings against Gbagbo, his wife and his colleagues. Gbagbo is being held at the Golf Hotel, the headquarters of both Ouattara and the United Nations. Fighting appeared to quickly end after Gbagbo's arrest, said Alain Le Roy, under-secretary-general of the United Nations' Department of Peacekeeping Operations.

"To my knowledge, most of the fighting has stopped," he said, adding that "there are pockets of resistance here and there." Gbagbo asked for and is receiving U.N. protection, according to Le Roy, who said forces are also ensuring the security of the former leader's wife. "I understand from President Ouattara that he wants President Gbagbo to go on trial in Ivory Coast," said the U.N. official. The former president "is well and alive and will be brought to justice," said the country's ambassador to the United Nations, Youssoufou Bamba. He and the French Embassy said forces loyal to Ouattara made the arrest. But a Gbagbo adviser, Ahoua Don Mello, said earlier that the French military had stormed Gbagbo's residence. The French Ministry of Defense rejected Don Mello's claim, saying no French troops entered the residence.

Authorities are trying to move carefully and follow legal procedures to bring Gbagbo to trial, said a senior U.S. official with knowledge of the events, declining to be named because of the sensitivity of the situation. The arrest is a "step in the right direction to return Ivory Coast to normality," the source said, adding that the city of Abidjan is a wreck, with "death squads, militias roaming (and) burning bodies on the streets, which is posing a major humanitarian challenge." Speaking from inside the Golf Hotel, Gbagbo told his supporters to stop fighting. "I hope that people lay down their weapons and return to a normal state of civil rule so that the crisis can conclude as quickly as possible," he said.

U.S. President Barack Obama cheered news of the latest developments in the Ivory Coast. "This represents a victory for the democratic will of the Ivorian people, who have suffered for far too long through the instability that followed their election," he said in a statement. Obama urged Ouattara and the people of the Ivory Coast to begin now the "hard work of reconciliation and rebuilding." U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Gbagbo's capture "sends a strong signal to dictators and tyrants. ... They may not disregard the voice of their own people. "There will be consequences for those who cling to power," Clinton warned.

More Ivory Coast president urges calm after Gbagbo is arrested - CNN.com

 

[idb]

<snip>..... the US is welcomed in Iraq by many, if not most, of the Iraqi population.

Crikey, that's a bold statement!

 

[Baruch Menachem]

Ivory Coast was an interesting contrast between the Libertarian Rebel held areas and the authoritarian government section. Wages were lots higher in the rebel held areas.

It is interesting to see if they will continue the polices of their section, or bring the whole thing under the rule of the bad guys.

Anyway, I am glad one more war is over

 

[blastoff]

France losing? Why don't they just cut to the part where they surrender again?

 

[Trajan]

Ivory Coast was an interesting contrast between the Libertarian Rebel held areas and the authoritarian government section. Wages were lots higher in the rebel held areas.

It is interesting to see if they will continue the polices of their section, or bring the whole thing under the rule of the bad guys.

Anyway, I am glad one more war is over

its never over...till its "over"!!

timestamps of Annie OP 12-02-2003, 08:35 PM ( and the french have been in and out of their at least twice in between then, and now)

 

[waltky]

Mass graves in Ivory Coast...

New mass grave discovered in Ivory Coast
Tue, May 10, 2011 - A new mass grave containing 29 bodies has been found in a restive suburb of Ivory Coast’s commercial capital, said a resident who said the victims were killed in the aftermath of a political standoff that plunged the country into violence.

UN investigators had said they were investigating the reports of a new mass grave. Yopougon resident Brahima Bakayoko said late on Saturday that militants loyal to arrested former Ivorian president Laurent Gbagbo swept through the neighborhood amid celebrations over Gbagbo’s arrest on April 11. He said the militants targeted members of two ethnic groups — the Dioula and the Baoule — that supported democratically elected Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara. “Here, they killed two youths of the Baoule and they forced us to bury them in the same tomb,” he said, adding that he counted 29 bodies in the grave.

A reporter visited the site late on Saturday and spoke to other residents who said their family members were killed. They did not give their names. The UN human rights office in Geneva, Switzerland, announced on Friday that their investigators were headed to a soccer field in Yopougon believed to be the site of a new mass grave. “We are told that there is a vast field that is used to play soccer. It is now an open-air cemetery,” said Hamadoun Toure, spokesman for the UN mission in Ivory Coast.

Yopougon had voted in large numbers for Gbagbo. His militias are believed to have taken cover in Yopougon and the neighborhood was the scene of pitched battles until Thursday, when Ouattara’s military spokesman announced that the area had been brought under control. Toure said it was not known whether the dead were killed by Gbagbo’s forces, or if they were Gbagbo supporters slain in reprisal killings by forces loyal to Ouattara.

Human rights groups have detailed massacres by the forces backing Ouattara, who swept the country coming in from the north, east and west. Judicial officials began questioning Gbagbo on Saturday about human rights abuses committed while he was in power. Gbagbo’s refusal to cede power after losing a poll in November last year sent the west African nation into a spiral of violence. More than a 1,000 civilians were killed, first by the army controlled by Gbagbo and later by a former rebel group allied with Ouattara that seized control of the country and toppled Gbagbo.

New mass grave discovered in Ivory Coast - Taipei Times

 

[Sunni Man]

whereas the US is welcomed in Iraq by many, if not most, of the Iraqi population.

Oh, I get it now; you are being sarcastic.

 

[blastoff]

Interesting. Another opportunity for the French to surrender.

 

[idb]

Interesting. Another opportunity for the French to surrender.

God that's lazy!