Ivory Coast situation

[jerseydevil]

I know most people probably don't really know about what has been going on in the Ivory Coast - even the French News only covers it once every couple of weeks if that. Anyway - today the Ivory Coast Government issued airstrikes against the French peacekeepes and the french retaliated. The UN has now called an emergency session.

8 French killed in Ivory Coast

U.N. Security Council calls emergency session
Saturday, November 6, 2004 Posted: 1:30 PM EST (1830 GMT)

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (AP) -- Ivory Coast warplanes bombed French peacekeepers Saturday, killing eight French soldiers and an American, officials said, prompting a French counterstrike in a confrontation that threatened to escalate Ivory Coast's renewed civil war.

After the French retaliation, pro-government mobs tried to storm a French military base near in the country's commercial center, Abidjan, witnesses said. French troops fired in the air and lobbed tear gas at the crowd.

The violence threatened to drag French and U.N. peacekeepers into the civil war that hard-line military commanders re-launched on Thursday, breaking a more than one-year-old ceasefire with surprise bombing attacks on rebel-held positions in the north.

The U.N. Security Council called an emergency session Saturday to deal with the clashes. The United States, which currently holds the council presidency, and France were drafting a presidential statement warning Ivory Coast's government to stop attacks immediately or face "serious consequences," council diplomats said.

France sent three Mirage fighter jets to West Africa in response, and French President Jacques Chirac said he ordered the deployment of two more military companies to Ivory Coast.

Many in the country's fiercely nationalistic south resent the French peacekeeping force, suspecting it of siding with the rebels, though French forces have often served to protect the government from the rebels. France has about 4,000 troops in Ivory Coast, and a separate U.N. peacekeeping force numbers around 6,000.

The confrontation began when government warplanes struck French positions at Brobo, near the northern rebel-held town of Bouake, in the afternoon, U.N. military spokesman Philippe Moreux said.

Eight French soldiers were killed and 23 others wounded, said Defense Ministry spokesman Jean-Francois Bureau in Paris. An American citizen was also killed in the raid, the French presidency said, without providing details.

U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Ergibe Boyd in Abidjan said they've been told of the death by the French but haven't confirmed. She said the American was likely a missionary, since there is no U.S. military or diplomatic presence in the area.

In response, French infantry destroyed two Ivory Coast Sukhoi fighter jets on the ground at an airport in the capital, Yamoussoukro, 75 miles to the south, French military spokesman Col. Henry Aussavy said.

Chirac said in a statement that he ordered the strike on the jets that violated the cease-fire and said France was acting within the terms of a U.N. mandate for French forces overseeing a cease-fire in the country.

"Our forces responded in a situation of legitimate defense," Bureau, the spokesman, said. "Now the priority is the immediate end of combat."

After the French retaliation in the capital, mayhem broke out in Abidjan, where crowds of government supporters assaulted a French base near the international airport. An Associated Press reporter saw throngs of other angry loyalist youths streaming toward the area, many clutching chunks of wood and chanting.

There were no immediate reports of injuries. It was not clear whether the base had been breached, or whether Ivory Coast troops were involved.

Ivory Coast military commanders have vowed to retake the north, controlled by rebels since the September 2002 start of the war in the world's top cocoa producer.

In Yamoussoukro, crowds of people streamed from the airport to town after the French retaliation. Edgy-looking soldiers turned away a members of an Associated Press crew seeking to get into the airport, telling them it was not safe.

Col. Philippe Mangou confirmed that government planes were destroyed in the French assault at the airport, though he could not say how many. "The planes were destroyed by shots from the French military ... The planes were on the ground," he told The Associated Press.

Ivory Coast's civil war killed thousands and uprooted more than 1 million, threatening efforts by neighboring countries -- Sierra Leone and Liberia -- to recover from their own vicious civil wars of the 1990s.

Last year's peace deals, brokered under international pressure, ended major fighting but an agreed-upon power-sharing government has never taken hold.

The U.N. Security Council, which has poured billions of dollars and thousands of peace troops into West and Central Africa to support peace accords, expressed alarm at the renewed fighting, as have France, the United States and others.

Fearing a spread of the fighting, the France-based relief group Medecins Sans Frontieres, or Doctors Without Borders, said Saturday it was evacuating some staff from its hospital in the western town of Danane, about 20 miles from Ivory Coast's border with Liberia. The west saw some of the most brutal attacks of the war.

Van Schoor said the hospital would remain functioning. She declined to say how many staffers were being brought out or where they were being taken.

Nigerian President Olosegun Obasanjo, current president of the African Union, opened talks with regional leaders Saturday at his farm on the outskirts of Nigeria's commercial capital, Lagos, to look for a way out of the crisis. Remi Oyo, Obasanjo's spokeswoman, declined to say if Ivory Coast government or rebel representatives would take part.

[Rían]

No, I didn't know anything about this. Wonder what will happen ...

[Insidious Rex]

Jersey: Kudos to you for bringing up a story that would otherwise go overlooked by most americans and most westerners as a "who cares" story about poor silly africans. Im still trying to gather together the background on all this. Not sure if its an actual "colonist revoluton" or more complicated then that.

[jerseydevil]

Originally Posted by Insidious Rex

Jersey: Kudos to you for bringing up a story that would otherwise go overlooked by most americans and most westerners as a "who cares" story about poor silly africans. Im still trying to gather together the background on all this. Not sure if its an actual "colonist revoluton" or more complicated then that.

Well it started out during the summer or 6 months ago[edit - I mean when the french went in there - not when the unrest started]. Can't really remember. The french went in to quell the unrest and things sort of started to go good (although there were initially attacks against the french) - at least there wasn't anything bad being reported anymore - and now all of a sudden this happens.

The US and France were working together today on the reponse to this at the UN.

[Nurvingiel]

I knew a little bit about this. Sweden is thinking of sending troops to Liberia.

Liberia is a very neat country - check our some of their interesting history here.

[jerseydevil]

Originally Posted by Nurvingiel

I knew a little bit about this. Sweden is thinking of sending troops to Liberia.

Sweden? Troops? You mean there's more to Sweden than IKEA and Abba?

[Nurvingiel]

LOL Yeah, don't forget Volvo! (The truck division is still Swedish-owned.)

The link I gave on the history ends rather abruptly at the coup. This site has pretty good coverage of the most recent history.

And here's a site for general information on Liberia!

[Jonathan]

I had a big interest in all news surrounding the French troops when they were first sent to Ivory Coast. I thought things had calmed down pretty well since nothing had been reported about the situation for some time. Not until now that is.

Originally Posted by jerseydevil

Sweden? Troops? You mean there's more to Sweden than IKEA and Abba?

You know, president Bush once said something similar, that Sweden didn't have an army. A couple of weeks later, he had to correct himself

Liberia is indeed an interesting country - the first African nation to become independent! Some of its modern history tightly vowen together with that of Ivory Coast (which is why talking about Liberia isn't off-topic )

[jerseydevil]

Originally Posted by Jonathan

You know, president Bush once said something similar, that Sweden didn't have an army. A couple of weeks later, he had to correct himself

And you KNOW I'm just joking because I was talking to you when you had to go down and see if they wanted you for the army since it is not an all volunteer military.

[Nurvingiel]

I knew you were joking, that's why I brought up Volvo. I was tempted to mention Bush... (except I didn't hear his original comments.)

From the original article, I got the impression that both Liberia and the Ivory Coast are involved in the conflict. Is the Ivory Coast the country of Côte D'Ivoire, or referring to a larger region in North-West Africa (like the whole coast).

Here is a pretty good map of Liberia: (Monrovia is the capital city.)

From this site: Liberia
I think the red area is the traditional land of the Dan tribe.

Here is a good map of Côte d'Ivoire:

From this site: Côte d'Ivoire

[jerseydevil]

I saw this on French News tonight - but they wanted to make it seem like nothing...

French Forces Fire on Ivory Coast Protesters

BIDJAN, Ivory Coast — French forces opened fire Tuesday as protesters massed between the Ivory Coast (search) president's home and an evacuation post for foreigners. A hospital reported seven people were killed and more than 200 wounded.

French military officials said they were assessing the events, and refused immediate comment.

At least four days of confrontations have killed at least 20 other people, wounded 700 and shut down cocoa exports from the world's largest producer.

The clash took place as thousands of loyalists massed outside the home of President Laurent Gbagbo (search), next to a hotel that the French have converted into a temporary evacuation center.

Dr. Sie Podipte at Cocody Hospital said the facility was treating more than 200 wounded and that seven people had died.

South African President Thabo Mbeki (search) met with Gbagbo earlier Tuesday, launching an African effort to rein in chaos that has erupted in this west African nation.

The U.N. Security Council, African Union (search), European Union and a bloc of West African leaders have all condemned Gbagbo's government in the violence, which began when Ivory Coast warplanes killed nine French peacekeepers and an American aid worker in an airstrike on the rebel-held north.

France, Ivory Coast's former colonial ruler, wiped out the nation's small air force in retaliation, sparking anti-French rampages by mobs of thousands in the fiercely nationalist south.

Mbeki said Gbagbo had recommitted to tension-easing measures agreed to in past accords in the country's civil war. A year-old cease-fire ended last week when the government opened three days of bombing of the rebel-held north.

Mbeki declared himself "really very, very pleased" and said he would report back to the African Union for consultations on its next steps in the crisis.

Talks took place at Gbagbo's home.

Some of the 1,300 French and other foreign civilians evacuated from their homes by the French military amid looting and burning stared out at the protesters from a protective ring of barbed wire around the hotel.

"We are not going to leave," one loyalist outside the French temporary base said, adding that protesters would take shifts to eat. "If I get the French, I can eat them," he said.

Protesters tried to pull down the barbed wire around the French evacuation point but scattered when two French snipers moved forward and drew beads on them.

After securing Abidjan's airport and bridges over the weekend, French forces on Tuesday appeared to have withdrawn from at least one main bridge in the lagoon-bordered city.

An Associated Press Television News cameraman saw a crowd surround one U.N. vehicle that ventured onto the bridge and kick it until the car withdrew.

Cocoa traders said the violence has shut down cocoa exports, closing ports that ship more than 40 percent of the world's raw material for chocolate.

Clashes that have pitted the government and supporters against French forces come at the peak of Ivory Coast's main harvest, with overall production last year at 1.4 million tons.

Violence has closed the country's two main ports, in Abidjan and San Pedro, since Saturday afternoon, traders and other officials told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Cocoa buyers are not venturing out into the bush to buy cocoa, they said.

On Monday, top Ivory Coast and French generals jointly appealed for protesters to go home despite a day of urgent alarms on state radio and TV asking loyalists to mass at Gbagbo's home and a nearby broadcast center.

The TV and radio appeals came after French armored vehicles moved into position at the commandeered Hotel Ivoire, with one armored vehicle at one point making a wrong turn and approaching Gbagbo's house directly, the French acknowledged.

"Everything should go back to normal. ... It is absolutely not a matter of ousting President Laurent Gbagbo," French mission commander Gen. Henri Poncet said on state TV, alongside Ivory Coast army chief of staff Gen. Mathias Doue.

French leaders have said they hold Gbagbo — installed in an uprising by his supporters in 2000, after an aborted vote count in presidential elections — personally responsible in the airstrike Saturday and subsequent anti-foreigner rampages.

French Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie, after a visit Monday to wounded French servicemen flown to Paris for medical care, said their witness accounts suggested the attack was premeditated.

"They all told me that the Ivorian plane passed two times over the (French military base) building and fired on the third pass," she told reporters at St. Mande military hospital outside Paris.

At the United Nations, Security Council diplomats late Monday weighed a French-backed draft resolution for an arms embargo on Ivory Coast and a travel ban and asset freeze against those blocking peace, violating human rights, and preventing the disarmament of combatants.

France has 4,000 peacekeepers in Ivory Coast, where a civil war launched in September 2002 has split the nation between rebel north and loyalist south.

About 6,000 U.N. troops also are deployed to man a buffer zone and try to keep the peace in West Africa's former economic powerhouse, seen as vital to regional efforts to recover from 1990s civil wars.

The bombing of the French military post Saturday came on the third day of Ivory Coast airstrikes on rebel positions, breaking a more than year-old cease-fire.

Red Cross official Kim Gordon-Bates told The Associated Press that rampages in Abidjan alone had injured more than 600. Loyalist mobs on Monday blocked to set up an emergency clinic for the injured, he said.

Only partial death tolls are available, but at least 20 people had been killed — the 10 foreigners killed in the airstrike on Saturday, five loyalist protesters whose bodies were shown on state TV over the weekend, and five other fatally wounded protesters brought to two hospitals on Monday.