# So when we are going to bomb the Ivory Coast?



## High_Gravity

People in the Ivory Coast are being killed by a tyrant, so when we are sending our cruise missiles and fighter jets over there? supposedly we are bombing Libya to do the right thing and help people, so we need to get over to the Ivory Coast and help those folks as well.

Civilians Die as Ivory Coast Braces for a Defeated President's Last Stand









> At least 52 civilians have been killed in the past week amid escalating violence instigated by an authoritarian President who refuses to heed the will of his people. No, not in Libya, or Yemen, or Bahrain, but in the West African nation of Ivory Coast, which is struggling for media attention amid crises elsewhere.
> 
> "Ivory Coast isn't considered strategically important enough on the global stage  it is not a Libya, so to speak," one Western diplomat points out. "And that, quite simply, is why it hasn't got the attention it deserves from the international community."
> 
> The erstwhile beacon of prosperity and stability in West Africa has been held hostage for five months by incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo, who has refused to cede power after losing a November runoff presidential election. Instead, he has mobilized the state apparatus and a fanatical core of young militants against the citizens who voted for his challenger, Alassane Ouattara. Daily battles rage between a burgeoning pro-Ouattara insurgency in Abidjan known as the "invisible commandos," and the army, which backs Gbagbo. At least 460 deaths have been confirmed since mid-December, according to the U.N. mission there, known as ONUCI.
> 
> And the violence threatens to escalate as Gbagbo has urged his young backers to join the army en masse. In the main city of Abidjan, some 15,000 youths, mostly unemployed and illiterate, gathered at the army headquarters on March 22. "I'm prepared to defend my country, which is under attack from foreigners," unemployed 17-year-old Venance Kouakou, who rushed to sign up, told TIME. Foreigners, he added, were all those who "voted against Gbagbo, the true President."
> 
> Later, a group of youths marching through Abidjan's once clean, palm-lined streets, chanted loudly, "With our Kalashs, we will target the enemy!" Gbagbo's popularity has long centered on xenophobic rhetoric against migrants from other African countries. Ivorians from the north of the country  where Ouattara has popular support  are considered foreigners by Gbagbo's supporters because many have migrant roots, giving the threat of violence a distinctly xenophobic character.




Read more: Ivory Coast Braces for Civil War as Violence Escalates - TIME


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## JBeukema

The Communist Party agrees with you


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## FuelRod

If you can figure out how to run a car on Ivory you're on to something.


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## High_Gravity

FuelRod said:


> If you can figure out how to run a car on Ivory you're on to something.



Yeah no shit huh, if we did use Ivory for that we'd have the 101st Air Borne over there already.


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## High_Gravity

UN: One million flee Cote d'Ivoire violence 








> Up to one million people have fled Ivory Coast to safer areas amid fears of an all-out civil war, the UN refugee agency has said.
> 
> The office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other aid agencies said they have been unable to access the country's west due to the fighting in the capital and other areas.
> 
> It cited estimates of between 700,000 and one million people displaced, largely from the city of Abidjan, including the heavily-populated districts of Abobo, Adjamame, Williamsville and Yopougon.
> 
> "The massive displacement in Abidjan and elsewhere is being fuelled by fears of all-out war"
> 
> Melissa Fleming, UNHCR spokesperson
> 
> "The massive displacement in Abidjan and elsewhere is being fuelled by fears of all-out war," Melissa Fleming, a spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, on Friday said in Geneva.
> 
> She said the closure of banks and businesses is also causing economic chaos in the West African country, with rising unemployment and food prices.
> 
> Just over a week ago the UNHCR put the number of displaced in Ivory Coast at around half a million, Fleming said, adding that the latest estimates were made by the agency's own staff on the ground.
> 
> The UNHCR and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) warned that the situation in the rural west of Ivory Coast was uncertain, with fighting going on in the area.
> 
> Fatoumata Lejeune-Kaba, a UNHCR spokeswoman for Africa, said new pockets of displaced people were being found inside Abidjan daily, although many appeared to be fleeing to the north, centre and east of Ivory Coast.
> 
> "It's our best estimate," she told AFP. "Those leaving Abidjan are many more than those staying."
> 
> The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) revealed on Friday that it was setting up aid for just 3,000 people found in the western town of Toulepleu during an evaluation mission about a week ago.
> 
> The town normally has 40,000 to 50,000 inhabitants, but most had fled nearby or into Liberia, the agency said.
> 
> "The town is devastated, no house has been spared and the hospital was abandoned and looted," Dominique Liengme, the ICRC Abidjan delegation chief, said.



UN: One million flee Cote d'Ivoire violence - Africa - Al Jazeera English


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## Shadow

FuelRod said:


> If you can figure out how to run a car on Ivory you're on to something.



I guess the chocolate just ain't good enough?


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## California Girl

We could if the UN would authorize it. Sadly, they won't... because countries like Russia and China use their vetoes to stop us. You are aware that we need to have a UN Resolution to undertake such actions, right? And you are aware that we have tried to get resolutions passed to help these countries before, right? And you do know that each time, Russia or China have vetoed it, right?

OK. So now that I've given y'all a few cold hard facts to ignore, please carry on bullshitting.


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## Sallow

Kinding hoping that if Qaddafi gets to be blown to bits (hopefully soon) like the people he blew to bits on the Lockerbie plane..it will send a message to the rest of the scumbags that maybe the same fate awaits them if they continue their shit.


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## Trajan

well, the french don't seem to care much for UN approval, unless it gives them an out to help a friend 

from 2003-

But the French responded with a calculated attack, ordered by Jacques Chirac himself, on the Ivorian state. They destroyed its air force of two fighter jets and some helicopters on the tarmac in the capital of Yamoussoukro, predictably prompting enraged citizens to explode in huge anti-French protests. So far over 60 have been killed, and over 1000 injured, in anti-French rioting. The French say they will hold Gbagbo responsible for such riots, which is tantamount to saying they plan to get rid of him to better reassert neocolonial control. 

On November 9 French forces opened fire on pro-government demonstrators in Abidjan, killing seven and injuring about 200. The Ivorian regime seems genuinely puzzled at the behavior of these hostile "peacekeepers." "We love France, it is a friendly country,"' declares the ambassador to France, Philippe Djangone-Bi, but he questions their right to "fire at our presidential palace, destroy our forces, humiliate us, and shoot at our civilians from helicopters." You might suppose that Ivory Coast would protest to the UN, but of course France wields veto power in the Security Council. 

The UNSC has however issued a resolution condemning the killing of the nine Frenchmen, and demanding that the Ivorian government adhere to the 2003 French-brokered peace accord.
AfricaSpeaks.com - Bloody Intervention in Cte d'Ivoire

they went back in 04 and 08.....


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## zzzz

The United States will never intervene militarily in sub-Saharan Africa unless it is in response to a terrorist action perpetrated from that country.


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## Trajan

zzzz said:


> The United States will never intervene militarily in sub-Saharan Africa unless it is in response to a terrorist action perpetrated from that country.



but but but what if the UN says its ok?


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## zzzz

Trajan said:


> zzzz said:
> 
> 
> 
> The United States will never intervene militarily in sub-Saharan Africa unless it is in response to a terrorist action perpetrated from that country.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> but but but what if the UN says its ok?
Click to expand...


Sub-Saharan Africa does not exist. Of all the places on this planet, that is one place that the US has no interest in, the government, the people, and the media. It may not be right but thats the way it is.


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## Shadow

zzzz said:


> Trajan said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> zzzz said:
> 
> 
> 
> The United States will never intervene militarily in sub-Saharan Africa unless it is in response to a terrorist action perpetrated from that country.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> but but but what if the UN says its ok?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Sub-Saharan Africa does not exist. Of all the places on this planet, that is one place that the US has no interest in, the government, the people, and the media. It may not be right but thats the way it is.
Click to expand...


The media has been reporting about the civil war there.  I have posted several articles recently that I found online.


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## High_Gravity

California Girl said:


> We could if the UN would authorize it. Sadly, they won't... because countries like Russia and China use their vetoes to stop us. You are aware that we need to have a UN Resolution to undertake such actions, right? And you are aware that we have tried to get resolutions passed to help these countries before, right? And you do know that each time, Russia or China have vetoed it, right?
> 
> OK. So now that I've given y'all a few cold hard facts to ignore, please carry on bullshitting.



Thats the whole point though, when is the last time anyone has approached the UN to try and take Military action to help the people in the Ivory Coast? besides, we went into Iraq without UN authorization. If UN authorization was so critical like you say, we would have not invaded Iraq, China and Russia only veto things when they have certain interests in a country, China and Russia have business interests in Iraq and Libya which is why they were against those interventions.


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## zzzz

Shadow said:


> zzzz said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Trajan said:
> 
> 
> 
> but but but what if the UN says its ok?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sub-Saharan Africa does not exist. Of all the places on this planet, that is one place that the US has no interest in, the government, the people, and the media. It may not be right but thats the way it is.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> The media has been reporting about the civil war there.  I have posted several articles recently that I found online.
Click to expand...


Some reports, yet there is not the same frequency and spotlight on the area. Why the avoidance of the area? We do get some strategic materials for the area and there is oil so we do have some national interests there.


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## High_Gravity

zzzz said:


> Shadow said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> zzzz said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sub-Saharan Africa does not exist. Of all the places on this planet, that is one place that the US has no interest in, the government, the people, and the media. It may not be right but thats the way it is.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The media has been reporting about the civil war there.  I have posted several articles recently that I found online.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Some reports, yet there is not the same frequency and spotlight on the area. Why the avoidance of the area? We do get some strategic materials for the area and there is oil so we do have some national interests there.
Click to expand...


Basically what it boils down to is this, if the US really wanted to get involved and help these people they would and UN authorization wouldn't be an issue, just look at Iraq, the UN said no and we still invaded it.


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## FuelRod

Shadow said:


> FuelRod said:
> 
> 
> 
> If you can figure out how to run a car on Ivory you're on to something.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I guess the chocolate just ain't good enough?
Click to expand...


When the US is consuming 20 million barrels of chocolate milk a day I'll get back to you.


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## zzzz

High_Gravity said:


> zzzz said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Shadow said:
> 
> 
> 
> The media has been reporting about the civil war there.  I have posted several articles recently that I found online.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Some reports, yet there is not the same frequency and spotlight on the area. Why the avoidance of the area? We do get some strategic materials for the area and there is oil so we do have some national interests there.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Basically what it boils down to is this, if the US really wanted to get involved and help these people they would and UN authorization wouldn't be an issue, just look at Iraq, the UN said no and we still invaded it.
Click to expand...


Yes, and that is the crux of the problem. Being the worlds only superpower gives us the power to do what we want when we want, whether anyone else approves or not. Not the right, just the power. 

The problem with Libya is that we are not leading but are being dragged into it. We have no big national interests in Libya other than oil, and face it, whoever governs Libya is going to sell the oil. Like I said before we should have let the Euros and Arab countries taken care of the whole problem and stood on the sidelines. It is time for the US to get out of this world policeman mentality and start to focus on issues here at home. Spend money here not on missiles and war!


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## High_Gravity

zzzz said:


> High_Gravity said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> zzzz said:
> 
> 
> 
> Some reports, yet there is not the same frequency and spotlight on the area. Why the avoidance of the area? We do get some strategic materials for the area and there is oil so we do have some national interests there.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Basically what it boils down to is this, if the US really wanted to get involved and help these people they would and UN authorization wouldn't be an issue, just look at Iraq, the UN said no and we still invaded it.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yes, and that is the crux of the problem. Being the worlds only superpower gives us the power to do what we want when we want, whether anyone else approves or not. Not the right, just the power.
> 
> The problem with Libya is that we are not leading but are being dragged into it. We have no big national interests in Libya other than oil, and face it, whoever governs Libya is going to sell the oil. Like I said before we should have let the Euros and Arab countries taken care of the whole problem and stood on the sidelines. It is time for the US to get out of this world policeman mentality and start to focus on issues here at home. Spend money here not on missiles and war!
Click to expand...


I think the US did try to let the other countries take the lead but they are unable to do so, in most big Military campaigns other countries are used to letting us take the lead and them taking a support role, when is the last time the French led a Military campaign? besides a few exceptions like the Brits, Canadians, Aussies, Dutch etc. most foreign Militaries aren't even combat ready, now that we are in this we will end up doing the lions share, basically you are right, we should have sat this out because now since we are there, we will be shouldering the load as always.


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## High_Gravity

I have to search hard for any news on the Ivory Coast.

Britain announces emergency aid for Ivory Coast refugees








> The British government has announced an emergency aid package for refugees fleeing violence in Ivory Coast amid concerns that the fighting could spread and destabilise west Africa.
> 
> 
> The Department for International Development said it would provide £16m to humanitarian agencies to provide emergency aid to Ivory Coast and Liberia.
> 
> 
> On Friday, the UNHCR, the UN's refugee agency, estimated that between 700,000 and 1 million people could now be displaced following Ivory Coast's disputed presidential election last November. More than 100,000 people are estimated to have crossed the border into Liberia, around 62,000 of them arriving between 24 February and the middle of last week.
> 
> 
> "Most refugees are seeking safety in Nimba County [in Liberia]. However, since this week, we have been seeing many more cross into Grand Gedeh County, further south. On Tuesday alone, more than 6,000 Ivorians entered the region and settled in remote areas in and around Janzon, Tuzon and Sweaken, including in villages that are inaccessible by car. The new arrivals fled from Blolequin," said spokeswoman Melissa Fleming.
> 
> 
> The news comes as Alassane Ouattara, the internationally recognised winner of last year's election, rejected the representative chosen by the African Union to negotiate a settlement to the presidential crisis with incumbent Laurent Gbagbo, further raising the prospect of civil war in the country.
> 
> 
> Fleming said that as well as avoiding being caught in the crossfire, some people told the UN they were leaving their homes because they "can no longer cope financially due to closures of banks and businesses, and resulting unemployment. Costs of food have risen, and there is little available in the markets."



Britain announces emergency aid for Ivory Coast refugees | Liz Ford | Global development | guardian.co.uk


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## AgainstAmnesty

We won't bomb it anytime soon.  It doesn't have much that we want or need.


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## High_Gravity

Ivory Coast rebels advance, take 2 more cities









> Rebels backing Ivory Coast's internationally recognized leader Alassane Ouattara extended their gains by capturing a strategic crossroads and advanced toward the capital Tuesday after four months of political chaos following the disputed election.
> 
> Incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo's refusal to leave office is quickly degenerating into a full-scale war in the world's main cocoa-producing country, but accepting the rebels' support could prove risky for Ouattara if the fighters commit abuses in his name.
> 
> The United Nations said Tuesday that rebels had fired on a U.N. reconnaissance helicopter Monday afternoon. The shots failed to hit the helicopter, though the U.N. denounced the attack, saying that it constituted a war crime.
> 
> The U.N. also expressed alarm about an attack blamed on Gbagbo security forces that left at least 10 civilians dead in Abidjan, the country's largest city. Pro-Gbagbo youth also were accused of killing one man by putting a tire around a man's neck and setting him ablaze.
> 
> "With the increase in human rights violations and barbaric practices, there are grounds for wondering whether President Gbagbo is still in charge of his forces and supporters," the local U.N. peacekeeping mission said in a statement Tuesday.
> 
> More than 1 million people have fled the fighting and at least 462 people have been killed since the Nov. 28 presidential election. U.N.-certified results showed Ouattara won the election but he has been unable to assume office because Gbagbo is refusing to leave after a decade in power.
> 
> The political standoff has led to daily fighting where security forces loyal to Gbagbo have used heavy weapons against the population, acts the U.N. said could be crimes against humanity. The city's chic downtown neighborhoods are now a puzzle of roadblocks manned by hooded youths allied with Gbagbo.
> 
> Ouattara, who is from the country's north, had long tried to distance himself from the rebels based there who fought in a brief civil war almost a decade ago that left the country split in two. However, rebels have been stepping up their offensive to install him in office in recent weeks.



Read more: Ivory Coast rebels advance, take 2 more cities - KansasCity.com


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## rightwinger

High_Gravity said:


> People in the Ivory Coast are being killed by a tyrant, so when we are sending our cruise missiles and fighter jets over there? supposedly we are bombing Libya to do the right thing and help people, so we need to get over to the Ivory Coast and help those folks as well.
> 
> Civilians Die as Ivory Coast Braces for a Defeated President's Last Stand
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> At least 52 civilians have been killed in the past week amid escalating violence instigated by an authoritarian President who refuses to heed the will of his people. No, not in Libya, or Yemen, or Bahrain, but in the West African nation of Ivory Coast, which is struggling for media attention amid crises elsewhere.
> 
> "Ivory Coast isn't considered strategically important enough on the global stage  it is not a Libya, so to speak," one Western diplomat points out. "And that, quite simply, is why it hasn't got the attention it deserves from the international community."
> 
> The erstwhile beacon of prosperity and stability in West Africa has been held hostage for five months by incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo, who has refused to cede power after losing a November runoff presidential election. Instead, he has mobilized the state apparatus and a fanatical core of young militants against the citizens who voted for his challenger, Alassane Ouattara. Daily battles rage between a burgeoning pro-Ouattara insurgency in Abidjan known as the "invisible commandos," and the army, which backs Gbagbo. At least 460 deaths have been confirmed since mid-December, according to the U.N. mission there, known as ONUCI.
> 
> And the violence threatens to escalate as Gbagbo has urged his young backers to join the army en masse. In the main city of Abidjan, some 15,000 youths, mostly unemployed and illiterate, gathered at the army headquarters on March 22. "I'm prepared to defend my country, which is under attack from foreigners," unemployed 17-year-old Venance Kouakou, who rushed to sign up, told TIME. Foreigners, he added, were all those who "voted against Gbagbo, the true President."
> 
> Later, a group of youths marching through Abidjan's once clean, palm-lined streets, chanted loudly, "With our Kalashs, we will target the enemy!" Gbagbo's popularity has long centered on xenophobic rhetoric against migrants from other African countries. Ivorians from the north of the country  where Ouattara has popular support  are considered foreigners by Gbagbo's supporters because many have migrant roots, giving the threat of violence a distinctly xenophobic character.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Read more: Ivory Coast Braces for Civil War as Violence Escalates - TIME
Click to expand...


Do they have oil?


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## High_Gravity

rightwinger said:


> High_Gravity said:
> 
> 
> 
> People in the Ivory Coast are being killed by a tyrant, so when we are sending our cruise missiles and fighter jets over there? supposedly we are bombing Libya to do the right thing and help people, so we need to get over to the Ivory Coast and help those folks as well.
> 
> Civilians Die as Ivory Coast Braces for a Defeated President's Last Stand
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> At least 52 civilians have been killed in the past week amid escalating violence instigated by an authoritarian President who refuses to heed the will of his people. No, not in Libya, or Yemen, or Bahrain, but in the West African nation of Ivory Coast, which is struggling for media attention amid crises elsewhere.
> 
> "Ivory Coast isn't considered strategically important enough on the global stage  it is not a Libya, so to speak," one Western diplomat points out. "And that, quite simply, is why it hasn't got the attention it deserves from the international community."
> 
> The erstwhile beacon of prosperity and stability in West Africa has been held hostage for five months by incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo, who has refused to cede power after losing a November runoff presidential election. Instead, he has mobilized the state apparatus and a fanatical core of young militants against the citizens who voted for his challenger, Alassane Ouattara. Daily battles rage between a burgeoning pro-Ouattara insurgency in Abidjan known as the "invisible commandos," and the army, which backs Gbagbo. At least 460 deaths have been confirmed since mid-December, according to the U.N. mission there, known as ONUCI.
> 
> And the violence threatens to escalate as Gbagbo has urged his young backers to join the army en masse. In the main city of Abidjan, some 15,000 youths, mostly unemployed and illiterate, gathered at the army headquarters on March 22. "I'm prepared to defend my country, which is under attack from foreigners," unemployed 17-year-old Venance Kouakou, who rushed to sign up, told TIME. Foreigners, he added, were all those who "voted against Gbagbo, the true President."
> 
> Later, a group of youths marching through Abidjan's once clean, palm-lined streets, chanted loudly, "With our Kalashs, we will target the enemy!" Gbagbo's popularity has long centered on xenophobic rhetoric against migrants from other African countries. Ivorians from the north of the country  where Ouattara has popular support  are considered foreigners by Gbagbo's supporters because many have migrant roots, giving the threat of violence a distinctly xenophobic character.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Read more: Ivory Coast Braces for Civil War as Violence Escalates - TIME
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Do they have oil?
Click to expand...


Nope, and thats why they are nowewhere to be found on our radar.


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## High_Gravity

Gbagbo calls for cease-fire in Ivory Coast 








> Following a successful offensive by forces of Alassane Ouattara, including the capture of two more towns, disputed incumbent president Laurent Gbagbo called for a cease-fire and mediation in the Ivory Coast.
> 
> Fighting in Ivory Coast has intensified, with fighters loyal to Ouattara reportedly entering at least two new towns Wednesday after seizing several cities the day before from forces loyal to Gbagbo and moving closer to the official capital of Yamoussoukro.
> 
> The Associated Press quoted Ouattara's defense spokesman as saying fighters had taken control of the central towns of Bouafle and Sinfra. Witnesses also reported gunfire in Tiebissou, 30 miles from Yamoussoukro.
> 
> A spokesman for Gbagbo, meanwhile, called for a cease-fire and mediation. Don Mello told Radio France Internationale that the army had adopted a strategy of tactical withdrawal, though he that Gbagbo's forces could use their "legitimate right of defense."
> 
> Ouattara is the internationally recognized winner of the presidential election last November, but Gbagbo has refused to relinquish power and continues to control Ivory Coast's largest city and financial capital, Abidjan.



http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/africa/110330/ivory-coast-gbagbo-africa-news-video


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## High_Gravity

Ivory Coast: Ouattara Forces Enter Capital








> (ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast)  Fighters supporting Ivory Coast's internationally recognized leader reached the capital Wednesday after seizing a dozen towns this week alone in a bid to install him in office after months of political chaos caused when two men claimed the presidency.
> 
> Alassane Ouattara's military spokesman confirmed that his forces had entered the capital of Yamoussoukro but said that pockets of resistance still existed. "There have been some defections to our side, but the city isn't yet entirely under our control," said Seydou Ouattara, who is not related to the political leader.
> 
> The rebels' arrival in the administrative capital marks a dramatic advance from multiple directions after months of political stalemate. But many believe a final bloody battle over the presidency is destined for the commercial capital of Abidjan.
> 
> Still, if Yamoussoukro falls to the Ouattara-allied forces, it would open up the main highway to Abidjan, which is only 143 miles (230 kilometers) away.
> 
> Resident Sylvain Koffi said young men on motorbikes drove into Yamoussoukro on Wednesday afternoon with their AK-47 assault rifles pointed into the air.
> 
> The city was almost entirely shut down after reports of the advancing rebels reached Yamoussoukro. Multiple residents reported seeing soldiers and police loyal to incumbent Laurent Gbagbo flee the city earlier in the day.
> 
> The international community and Ivory Coast's electoral commission say Ouattara won the November presidential election. But Gbagbo refuses to give up power. Up to 1 million people have fled the fighting caused by political chaos and at least 462 people have been killed since the election.



Read more: Ivory Coast: Ouattara Forces Enter Capital - TIME


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## rightwinger

If we were to bomb the Ivory Coast.....would anyone realize it had been bombed?


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## High_Gravity

rightwinger said:


> If we were to bomb the Ivory Coast.....would anyone realize it had been bombed?



Probably not.


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## High_Gravity

In Ivory Coast, Gbagbo's forces defect en masse: reports








> Celebrations are breaking out across Ivory Coast today as forces loyal to President-elect Alassane Ouattara seize city after city in a lightning-fast march to end the reign of renegade incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo.
> 
> How Ivory Coast's Gbabgo aims to solve his cash woes As Ivory Coast stalemate worsens, so do the chances of military intervention As Gbabgo seizes Central Bank assets in Ivory Coast, a look at the arcane institution Mr. Gbagbo has sat in the presidential palace for eleven years, using his army and youth militia to outlast a foiled coup and a 2002-03 civil war while presiding over a decade of economic stagnation and, finally, a Nov. 28 electoral defeat that he refused to acknowledge.
> 
> After months of waiting for a concession speech that never came, rebels last week launched an offensive deep into southern Ivory Coast, from whence Gbagbo hails.
> 
> Just hours ago, Gbagbo's armed forces appeared ready to respond, dragging the country deeper into a second, more vicious civil war on behalf of their defiant president.
> 
> Instead, they appear to have evaporated. Some 50,000 police thought to be loyal to Gbagbo have deserted, reports Agence France-Presse.
> 
> In the capital, Yamoussoukro, which the rebels took with hardly a shot, they spun donuts in the city center in jeeps as civilians cheered. Hours later, they took San Pedro, the key port through which 40 percent of the world's cocoa flows.
> 
> Rebels taking Gbagbo's hometown spent the night in his vacation villa.
> 
> As of this writing, they even appeared to have begun taking Abidjan, once the "Jewel of Africa," and still the country's most important city.
> 
> Gbagbo's army chief sought asylum in the South African embassy last night. And the leader of Gbagbo's youth militia, Charles Blé Goudé, has reportedly asked Angola for a visa.
> 
> Gbagbo's remaining entourage, however, appears ready to dig in its heels. How hard his most loyal forces will fight could determine the scale of the humanitarian disaster already underway.
> 
> The United States said Thursday that Gbagbo will be held responsible for clashes in Abidjan.
> 
> "If there is major violence in Abidjan and Gbagbo does not step aside, he and those around him, including his wife Simone Gbagbo, will have to be held accountable for the actions they failed to take to stop it," Johnnie Carson, assistant secretary of state for African affairs, told reporters. "The international community will certainly hold him accountable, but he does have an opportunity, but this opportunity is slipping away."



In Ivory Coast, Gbagbo's forces defect en masse: reports - CSMonitor.com


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## JBeukema

> The west African nation of Ivory Coast has been in turmoil ever since  incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo refused to step down after losing an  internationally certified election in late November. As forces loyal to  Gbagbo have killed civilians and been accused  of crimes against humanity, and as the number of refugees from the  country has ballooned to as many as 1 million, observers have described  the situation as worse than the Libyan conflict.
> While the crisis has gotten substantial press attention, one aspect  of Gbagbo's past -- and present -- has flown under the radar: his  longtime ties to the Christian right in the United States, a movement in  which he still finds at least some support.


Why the Christian right is backing a brutal despot - War Room - Salon.com


----------



## High_Gravity

Ivory Coast's president-elect says his troops are outside key city








> Reporting from Johannesburg, South Africa The internationally recognized winner of Ivory Coast's disputed presidential election said Thursday that his forces were outside the nation's commercial capital, Abidjan, after taking control of much of the country, and he called on his rival's army to join him.
> 
> "It is time to rejoin your brothers-in-arms of the Republican Forces. The country is calling you," Alassane Ouattara, who won a United Nations-certified election in November, said in a television address.
> 
> Ouattara said the aim of the offensive was to remove incumbent Laurent Gbagbo, who has refused to relinquish power, and restore democracy. Gbagbo was reported by RTI state television to be safe in his home in the Abidjan neighborhood of Cocody.
> 
> "Despite numerous appeals to Laurent Gbagbo and his allies for a peaceful transfer of power, the only response to this outreached hand has been violence," Ouattara said.
> 
> Amid reports of army units deserting or changing sides in other parts of the country, the only choices left for Gbagbo appeared to be either fleeing into exile or fighting in Abidjan, his strongest source of support. Troops loyal to Ouattara on Wednesday seized Yamoussoukro, the capital.
> 
> Gbagbo's strongest weapon, his control of the army, appears to be disintegrating: His army chief of staff, Gen. Philippe Mangou, deserted Thursday and sought refuge with his family at the home of the South African ambassador.
> 
> But a Gbagbo advisor based in Europe reportedly said the incumbent would not step down.
> 
> "He will not resign in the wake of this attack. He is not going to abdicate. He is not going to lay down his arms. He will stay in power to lead the resistance to this attack against Ivory Coast organized by France, the United States and the United Nations," said advisor Toussaint Alain, according to the Associated Press.
> 
> Ouattara, whose forces have also seized the key cocoa-exporting port of San Pedro, has been stationed in Abidjan's Golf Hotel since December, surrounded by Gbagbo's army but protected by U.N. peacekeepers. In February, he set up a television station in the hotel, on which he has regularly addressed the nation. His forces have surrounded the city.
> 
> Abidjan is deeply polarized, with some neighborhoods already in the hands of anonymous anti-Gbagbo rebels who launched attacks in late February. Some of them, in military uniforms, appear allied with Ouattara's forces, but the allegiance of other ragtag rebels is less clear.
> 
> Gbagbo's opponents say his main military support consists of his volatile youth militia, the Young Patriots, along with other deeply loyal forces numbering at least 5,000.



Ivory Coast: Ivory Coast's president-elect says his troops are outside key city - latimes.com


----------



## old navy

Hundreds (probably more) have been hacked and machine-gunned. Where's the outrage?

Ivory Coast conflict intensifies amid reports of a massacre - The Washington Post


----------



## Trajan

yup...

I don't recall a UN resolution for french action here but hey....what the heck right? 

Ivory Coast: French forces take over Abidjan airport 

France has sent extra troops to Ivory Coast's main city, Abidjan, and taken control of its airport.

A French military spokesman told the BBC there was a security vacuum as forces formerly loyal to incumbent Laurent Gbagbo changed sides.

Fighting continues between Mr Gbagbo's troops and supporters of his rival, UN-recognised President Alassane Ouattara.

The city's pro-Gbagbo TV station called for people to mobilise against the French '"occupation".

Mr Ouattara's forces are reported to be planning a further advance towards the presidential palace and have imposed a curfew on the city.

UN spokesman Hamadoun Toure told the BBC he had heard gunfire near the palace, adding that the situation was very tense

more at-
BBC News - Ivory Coast: French forces take over Abidjan airport


----------



## High_Gravity

old navy said:


> Hundreds (probably more) have been hacked and machine-gunned. Where's the outrage?
> 
> Ivory Coast conflict intensifies amid reports of a massacre - The Washington Post



No oil, no outrage.


----------



## High_Gravity

Trajan said:


> yup...
> 
> I don't recall a UN resolution for french action here but hey....what the heck right?
> 
> Ivory Coast: French forces take over Abidjan airport
> 
> France has sent extra troops to Ivory Coast's main city, Abidjan, and taken control of its airport.
> 
> A French military spokesman told the BBC there was a security vacuum as forces formerly loyal to incumbent Laurent Gbagbo changed sides.
> 
> Fighting continues between Mr Gbagbo's troops and supporters of his rival, UN-recognised President Alassane Ouattara.
> 
> The city's pro-Gbagbo TV station called for people to mobilise against the French '"occupation".
> 
> Mr Ouattara's forces are reported to be planning a further advance towards the presidential palace and have imposed a curfew on the city.
> 
> UN spokesman Hamadoun Toure told the BBC he had heard gunfire near the palace, adding that the situation was very tense
> 
> more at-
> BBC News - Ivory Coast: French forces take over Abidjan airport



It seems the French feel an obligation to its former colony but beyond that, I don't see anyone else doing anything.


----------



## High_Gravity

Ivory Coast Fighters Prepare To Oust Leader Laurent Gbagbo 








> ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast  Residents barricaded themselves inside their homes Sunday, blanketing windows and pushing furniture against doors as this country on Africa's western coast tensely awaited the final battle between the two men who claim the presidency.
> 
> Fighters backing the internationally recognized president, Alassane Ouattara, amassed at a tollbooth on the city's northern edge, preparing for the final assault. Their leader was declared the winner of last November's election, but Ouattara has not been able to assume office because outgoing president Laurent Gbagbo is refusing to yield power.
> 
> Water has been cut off to much of Abidjan, and on the empty streets, a handful of women with basins could be seen hurriedly crossing the waterfront highway to reach the lagoon. Men ventured out with plastic bags to scoop up water, holding the bags high in the air to signal to soldiers in firing positions that they were not armed.
> 
> Only about 20 miles separates the thousands of pro-Ouattara foot soldiers readying for battle from the lagoonside district where the presidential palace and mansion are located.
> 
> A resident of the Cocody neighborhood where the mansion is located said around 700 Gbagbo supporters had gathered at the gates of the compound Sunday, after state television, still controlled by the entrenched ruler, called on the population to form a human shield to protect the presidential palace. The resident, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisal, said the supporters had been armed with AK-47 assault rifles.
> 
> Toussaint Alain, Gbagbo's representative in Europe, told reporters in Paris that Gbagbo is not giving up.
> 
> "President Gbagbo, I have said, is at the residence of the head of state, his usual workplace, and he is managing the crisis with teams that have been put into place to deal with this aggression coming from the outside," Alain said. "It's not up to America or France to decide who must lead the Ivory Coast."
> 
> The international community has been nearly unanimous in backing Ouattara, whose win with over 54 percent of the vote was confirmed by Ivorian election officials and a 900-strong United Nations observation mission.
> 
> In Washington, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called on Gbagbo to step down immediately. She expressed concern about a massacre in the western town of Duekoue, where U.N. investigators said Sunday at least 430 people were killed last week, after pro-Ouattara forces moved in. It's unclear which side committed the killings, with both camps denying responsibility.



Ivory Coast Fighters Prepare To Oust Leader Laurent Gbagbo


----------



## High_Gravity

Ivory Coast's Ambassador To France, Appointed By Alassane Ouattara, Says Laurent Gbagbo Is Negotiating Surrender 








> PARIS -- Ivory Coast's ambassador to France, who was appointed by the country's democratically elected leader Alassane Ouattara, says embattled strongman Laurent Gbagbo is negotiating his surrender.
> 
> Speaking Tuesday on France Info radio, Ali Coulibaly did not provide any details about the alleged negotiations, nor did he say where he got the information.
> 
> Coulibaly's comments come a day after attacks by United Nations and French forces on Gbagbo's residence, military bases and other targets.
> 
> Pro-Ouattara supporters had succeeded in taking nearly the entire countryside last week, but they faltered upon reaching Abidjan, the country's largest city. With the help of international forces, the armed group has pushed its way into the city.



Ivory Coast's Ambassador To France, Appointed By Alassane Ouattara, Says Laurent Gbagbo Is Negotiating Surrender


----------



## JBeukema

U.N. document says Ivory Coast Gbagbo surrendered | Reuters


----------



## High_Gravity

Gbagbo Ivory Coast Home Under Attack As Opposition Pushes For Surrender 








> ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast  Heavy arms fire rang out Wednesday near the home of the country's strongman who remained holed up in a subterranean bunker, as forces backing his rival assaulted the residence to try to force him out, diplomats and witnesses said.
> 
> A spokeswoman for the government of the country's democratically elected president Alassane Ouattara said on France-24 television that pro-Ouattara forces had entered the gates of Laurent Gbagbo's residence.
> 
> "At the current moment they have not yet captured Gbagbo but it will happen soon," Affoussy Bamba said by telephone from Abidjan. "They opened the gates and noted that the residence is surrounded by heavy weaponry," she said. "Now the objective is to capture him."
> 
> Gbagbo had appeared to be on the point of surrender on Tuesday, sending an emissary to meet with foreign ambassadors in order to negotiate the terms of his resignation. But a senior diplomat who asked not to be named because he is not authorized to speak to the press said the overture appeared to be a foil, and that Gbagbo was simply playing for time.
> 
> "The conditions set by President Ouattara are rather clear. He is demanding that Laurent Gbagbo accept his defeat and recognize the victory of the legitimately elected president," French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said Wednesday. "That's where we are today, and alas, words have given way to weapons."
> 
> Neither U.N. nor French forces were involved in Wednesday's fighting, he said.
> 
> Earlier in the day, French radio RFI broadcast an interview with Gbagbo in which he said he had won last November's election and that there was no question of him leaving.
> 
> "We are not at the negotiating phase. And my departure from where? My departure to where?" he said.
> 
> Gbagbo refused to accept defeat to Ouattara in last year's election and took his country to the precipice of civil war in his bid to preserve power. His security forces are accused of using cannons, mortars and machine guns to mow down opponents in the four months since Ouattara was declared the winner of the contested vote.



Gbagbo Ivory Coast Home Under Attack As Opposition Pushes For Surrender


----------



## High_Gravity

The Specter of Genocide








> The woman had been trapped in her office for three days as fighting rocked the streets below and armed gangs roamed. Alexandra had survived on a package of cookies and two cans of soda. Finally, frantic that a promised rescue by a U.N. convoy did not materialize, she ran out of her building and into the dangerous streets, dashing two blocks to a nearby hotel. "This place is paradise," she said to the staff, who took her in and provided her with water and some food, even though they were running low. "This place is paradise."
> 
> On March 31, millions in the chic, sultry West African city of Abidjan, the center of power in Ivory Coast, abandoned their wine bars, high-rise offices and four-lane highways. They barricaded their apartments and watched, terrified, as the battle for their nation swept into town. Forces allied with northerner Alassane Ouattara, who was elected President on Nov. 28, fought troops loyal to southerner Laurent Gbagbo, the incumbent, who delayed an election for five years, then refused to go when he lost.
> 
> Mediation went nowhere, and from March 28 to 30, militias supporting Ouattara captured most of the country. But the battle for Abidjan, a city of 5 million, was always going to be bloody. Gbagbo had surrounded himself with thousands of troops and heavy weapons  mortars, mounted machine guns and artillery  and was believed to be in a bunker under the presidential residence. Its food supplies already low, the city ran so short of water that even Gbagbo's thugs were knocking on doors begging for a drink. Thirsty civilians braved gunfire to draw water from the city's polluted lagoons.
> 
> Meanwhile, the specter of genocide hung in the air as Gbagbo's state television urged patriots to defend the nation, broadcasting pictures of bodies in the streets. Northerners and southerners daubed one another's doors with signs to indicate tribal affiliation, a guide to enmity. In the western town of Duékoué, 800 people died in two separate massacres, apparently one by each side. The U.N. estimated that a million people were displaced.
> 
> Gbagbo seemed to be counting on the world's doing little to stop what sounded like an all-too-familiar African tragedy. As with other autocrats  Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe, Muammar Gaddafi in Libya  the country would burn. The world would watch in horror but just as quickly turn away. And after all the killing, rape and destruction, Gbagbo would remain.



Read more: Intervention in Ivory Coast - TIME


----------



## High_Gravity

Ivory Coast's Gbagbo Handed To Rebels 









> (Reuters) - French special forces have detained Ivory Coast's Laurent Gbagbo and handed him to leaders of the rebel opposition, after French tanks forced their way into his residence, a Gbagbo adviser in France said.
> 
> "Gbagbo has been arrested by French special forces in his residence and has been handed over to the rebel leaders," adviser Toussaint Alain told Reuters.
> 
> A French foreign ministry source could not immediately confirm that French forces had detained Gbagbo. "We have no evidence that can confirm that," the source said.
> 
> Earlier on Monday a column of more than 30 armored vehicles advanced toward Gbagbo's residence in Abidjan, a witness told Reuters, and Alain said they had penetrated the building.
> 
> "It's French forces taking in the rebels," he said. "French special forces are inside the residence."



Ivory Coast's Gbagbo Handed To Rebels


----------



## High_Gravity

Ivory Coast Requires $300 Million for Emergency Aid, UN Says



> Ivory Coast requires $300 million for priority humanitarian needs, including aid to 800,000 people forced from their homes during four months of deadly post-election conflict, a United Nations official said.
> 
> We need to act now, Valerie Amos, the UNs emergency relief coordinator, said to a meeting of the Security Council after former President Laurent Gbagbo was captured and his security forces surrendered. The humanitarian situation remains deeply troubling.
> 
> Amos said a UN crisis assessment team has arrived in Ivory Coast and that agencies including the World Food Program, UN Childrens Fund and World Health Organization are sending supplies to the West African nation, the worlds largest cocoa producer.
> 
> Youssoufou Bamba, Ivory Coasts ambassador to the UN, told the Security Council that the health alert is high, with the risk of cholera and meningitis.
> 
> Gbagbo had defied international opinion to cling to office while disputing results of a Nov. 28 election. While the UN, the African Union and the U.S. recognized Alassane Ouattara as the winner, Gbagbo refused to cede power, claiming voter fraud in the northern part of the country.
> 
> Ouattara will very soon put together a broad-based unity government, inclusive, one which will integrate the competencies of all political forces, Bamba said. The new government will allow our country to enter into an era of peace, stability and prosperity, he said.
> 
> Managing Own Affairs
> The UN special representative for Ivory Coast, Choi Young- jin, said via video conference from Abidjan that the end of the conflict marked a success story of a people managing their own affairs with international support. He said that, unlike other current crises, this one had been resolved without massive international intervention.
> 
> Choi said Ouattara should act quickly to nominate people to head 17 of 30 departments that dont have designated ministers, organize parliamentary elections and extend government authority to the northern part of the county, which had been held by rebels fighting Gbagbos government.
> 
> Cocoa for July delivery added $9, or 0.3 percent, to $3,065 a metric ton at 10:26 a.m. on ICE Futures U.S. in New York, after touching $3,095, the highest since April 4.
> 
> In London, cocoa futures for July delivery climbed 2 pounds, or 0.1 percent, to 1,939 pounds ($3,153) a ton on NYSE Liffe.



Ivory Coast Requires $300 Million for Emergency Aid, UN Says - Bloomberg


----------



## High_Gravity

Ivory Coast, Libya highlight growing rift between Africa and the West








> Johannesburg, South Africa
> If ever there was doubt of a growing rift between African and Western leaders, it was made clear with the recent conflicts of Libya and Ivory Coast.
> 
> What the world can do now for Ivory Coast and Ouattara In both countries &#8211; where strongmen rulers unleashed their armies and police against opponents &#8211; Western leaders quickly called for international intervention to protect civilians, while many African leaders preferred mediation and complained of African sovereignty being trampled.
> 
> In Ivory Coast, African Union-led mediation failed miserably as renegade President Laurent Gbagbo plunged his country back into civil war before the United Nations asked French forces to intervene, leading to Mr. Gbagbo's capture on Monday. And while Western allies continued to bomb forces loyal to Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi this week, the AU sent a five-nation team to Tripoli to hash out "road map" for peace that rebels have rejected.
> 
> 
> The tensions resulting from the two approaches, though, are not merely between bossy rich Western nations on one side and African nationalists on the other. They exist within every African country, in a debate that poses the question: Can modern African societies be open enough to allow democracy, but strong enough to resist external political or economic domination?
> 
> &#8220;It is a very interesting conflict going on. The Ivory Coast issue has divided African public opinion quite sharply,&#8221; says Achille Mbembe, professor of history and politics at Witwatersrand University in Johannesburg, South Africa.
> 
> African anger at the West reached its sharpest point at the beginning of a French-led air attack on heavy weapons belonging to Gbagbo&#8217;s forces in Ivory Coast's main city of Abidjan on April 4.
> 
> 
> African Union chief Teodoro Obiang Nguema &#8211; who is also president of Equatorial Guinea &#8211; told a gathering of reporters in Geneva, &#8220;Africa does not need any external influence. Africa must manage its own affairs.&#8221;
> 
> Not only was UN action unwanted in Ivory Coast, it was also undermining AU efforts at mediation in Libya, Mr. Obiang said.
> 
> "I believe that the problems in Libya should be resolved in an internal fashion and not through an intervention that could appear to resemble an humanitarian intervention," Obiang said. "We have already seen this in Iraq.&#8221;



Ivory Coast, Libya highlight growing rift between Africa and the West - CSMonitor.com


----------



## Intense

zzzz said:


> The United States will never intervene militarily in sub-Saharan Africa unless it is in response to a terrorist action perpetrated from that country.


----------



## High_Gravity

Intense said:


> zzzz said:
> 
> 
> 
> The United States will never intervene militarily in sub-Saharan Africa unless it is in response to a terrorist action perpetrated from that country.
Click to expand...


You are correct on that point, but that was almost 20 years ago. The US should have skipped Somalia and went into Rwanda instead.


----------



## High_Gravity

Ivory Coast Liberation Forces Turn On Each Other 








> ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast  Ivory Coast's new army turned its guns on a former ally who helped install the democratically elected president but failed on Thursday to defeat the renegade forces who are dug into a neighborhood of Abidjan, military sources said.
> 
> Infighting among forces who recognize President Alassane Ouattara also erupted Wednesday in the southwestern cocoa port of San Pedro, the sources said.
> 
> Rockets and mortars were fired in both places, with civilians trying to flee the crossfire.
> 
> The violence presents a major setback for the country, which was taking timid steps toward normality following the April 11 arrest of strongman President Laurent Gbagbo.
> 
> The shooting in San Pedro started when one group of soldiers tried to stop another from looting, one source said. U.N. peacekeepers intervened to stop the combat after the fighters started launching mortars and rockets in downtown San Pedro, said the officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters.
> 
> Residents said heavy machine-gun fire rocked Abidjan's working-class suburb of Abobo about 5 p.m. (1700 GMT) Wednesday near renegade warlord Ibrahim "IB" Coulibaly's headquarters. Residents scattered and ran to lock themselves into their homes. Coulibaly orchestrated two failed coup attempts in 1999 and 2002.
> 
> Abobo saw some of the worst fighting during the four-month political standoff created by Gbagbo's refusal to cede power to Ouattara after a November election.
> 
> Four military sources from both sides confirmed that the new army of former rebels led by Prime Minister Guillaume Soro, who also is Ivory Coast's defense minister, attacked Coulibaly's headquarters but were met with fierce resistance that lasted more than an hour. Coulibaly and Soro are longtime rivals.
> 
> A fighter in Coulibaly's forces who uses the nom-de-guerre Capt. Meyo Aka told The Associated Press that they drove government troops back and they finally left.



Ivory Coast Liberation Forces Turn On Each Other


----------



## High_Gravity

Can Ivory Coast's New President Heal the Nation's Wounds?








> Residents of Youpougon affectionately refer to their sprawling district in Ivory Coast's main city of Abidjan as "Yop City," after New York City. Not long ago, people used to flock to its outdoor street scene to party all night, every night. The neighborhood, home to 2 million inhabitants, was known for its vibrant pulse.
> 
> These days, that pulse is barely there. While life has picked up slowly but determinedly since Abidjan was wracked by four months of ferocious post-electoral fighting, Youpougon still feels like a war zone. A month after former president Laurent Gbagbo was pulled from a bunker in the presidential palace, still refusing to accept his loss in a November poll, the neighborhood is one of Ivory Coast's most visible open sores. It also typifies the hard road to reconciliation ahead for new president Alassane Ouattara.
> 
> In Youpougon, lone cars hurry past looted houses and burnt-out fuel stations. In some areas, bloodied corpses still haven't been cleared away. And everywhere, dozens of makeshift roadblocks are manned by soldiers from the Republican Forces, a hastily pulled together assortment of former rebels from the north of the country, as well as hundreds of army deserters.
> 
> Yet these soldiers could turn out to be as much a problem as they were a solution to finally dislodging Gbagbo. The balance of power finally tipped in Ouattara's favor only after the United Nations and French battalion, Licorne, entered the fray on April 4, bombing arms and ammunitions caches. Ouattara now faces the twin difficulties of coming to power on the back of a conflict and with international help. That means banishing the lingering ghost of Gbagbo's popular rhetoric against both foreigners  in particular former colonial power France  and northern Ivorians who constitute the bulk of Ouattara's supporters.
> 
> Feelings run high on both sides. Kouassi Abouet, 54, a pro-Gbagbo supporter who lost a daughter and brother during the conflict, didn't attend the official ceremony on May 12 to mark three days of national mourning. "The lucky [pro-Gbagbo] fighters are the ones who ran away before Abidjan fell," he says. "If you come out now and say you support Gbagbo, there will be no reconciliation, no forgiveness."
> 
> It's hard to disagree. A short walk past the bullet-scarred police station in Youpougon, U.N. officials last week discovered 68 bodies buried in a field used for marriage receptions and football games. "Every day [Gbagbo's men] came here and killed more. The stench was so bad, but people were afraid to leave their homes to identify the bodies," says resident Bakary Idriss, standing next to the burnt-out remains of a goal post. "It's too early to talk about reconciliation," he adds, staring at a single pink high-heel shoe lying between two unmarked graves. The U.N. has confirmed at least 3,000 died in the four months of fighting. The final figure will likely be much higher.
> 
> Another pressing task for Ouattara will be to figure out how to deal with an army composed of units that once fought each other  that's if he is able to exert any real control over them. For with the armies came huge caches of guns and ammunition. The government has issued an arms amnesty, with moderate success outside Abidjan. In the country's commercial center, the situation is "complicated," says military spokesman Leon Alla: "People are afraid to come forward." Some 2,000 militia have been transported to the north of the country, he says, without elaborating on their fate.



Read more: Can Ivory Coast's New President Heal the Nation's Wounds? - TIME


----------



## Trajan

hey hwo cares? right?

unreal, they needed a Bush involved, that would have kept this in the new cycle,  even half a world away...sad but true bro.


----------



## High_Gravity

Trajan said:


> hey hwo cares? right?
> 
> unreal, they needed a Bush involved, that would have kept this in the new cycle,  even half a world away...sad but true bro.



If they had oil you can bet we would have our Military all up in that country giving them democracy.


----------



## JBeukema

Such is Africa.

We've growing weary of the burden.

Africa is hopeless.


----------



## High_Gravity

JBeukema said:


> Such is Africa.
> 
> We've growing weary of the burden.
> 
> Africa is hopeless.



Africa is the future.


----------



## JBeukema

High_Gravity said:


> JBeukema said:
> 
> 
> 
> Such is Africa.
> 
> We've growing weary of the burden.
> 
> Africa is hopeless.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Africa is the future.
Click to expand...

After the nuclear holocaust and the Great AIDS Pandemic, before the world rebuilds itself?

The negroe was forgotten by evolution.


----------



## High_Gravity

JBeukema said:


> High_Gravity said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JBeukema said:
> 
> 
> 
> Such is Africa.
> 
> We've growing weary of the burden.
> 
> Africa is hopeless.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Africa is the future.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> After the nuclear holocaust and the Great AIDS Pandemic, before the world rebuilds itself?
> 
> The negroe was forgotten by evolution.
Click to expand...


Whats a negroe?


----------



## Baruch Menachem

From what I have read about how the Norther part was run, soon this place will be a Randian paradise.  The place was split for years and the North was libertarian and wealthy and the south was authoritarian and broke.

Of course, wealthy is a relative term.    But it looks like with Gbago gone, things might start to look up soon.    Look up from a very deep place, but up is a better direction than they were going.


----------



## Trajan

High_Gravity said:


> JBeukema said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> High_Gravity said:
> 
> 
> 
> Africa is the future.
> 
> 
> 
> After the nuclear holocaust and the Great AIDS Pandemic, before the world rebuilds itself?
> 
> The negroe was forgotten by evolution.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Whats a negroe?
Click to expand...


well played......


----------



## LAfrique

High_Gravity, Alassane Ouattara did not win the 2010 presidential election of Ivory Coast! The 2010 presidential election was disputed and a recounted demanded. But while recount was underway and Ivoirians in Ivory Coast waiting, France (a major Ouattara supporter) declared Ouattara winner over French media in France and people in Ivory Coast got news of the alleged Ouattara victory from relatives and friends abroad! 

Besides, Ouattara is unqualified to be president of Ivory Coast! Alassane Ouattara is Burkina Faso born and Burkina Faso national, and the Constitutional of Ivory Coast mandates that its president be the offspring of an Ivorian father and an Ivorian mother.

Gbagbo and several informed folks opposed the strategy by France (an enemy of Gbagbo because of Gbagbo's determination to amend unfair deal decades ago between France and Ivory Coast - in which France gets about 90% of profit for managing Ivory Coast's resources). The election dispute went to the Supreme Court of Ivory Coast and Supreme Court ruled in favor of Laurent Gbagbo. And this, people, besides other issues is why Laurent Gbagbo refuses to step down.

The forced installation of puppet Ouattara by France and UN is nothing but a perfect display of Neo-colonialism! And what these world bullies forget to realize here is that they have also set the stage for a possible Rwanda Genocide: 

Alassane Ouattara = Injustice = No Peace in Ivory Coast! No nation should be governed by a non-national. For detailed info, search "Staging a Rwanda Genocide."


----------



## High_Gravity

LAfrique said:


> High_Gravity, Alassane Ouattara did not win the 2010 presidential election of Ivory Coast! The 2010 presidential election was disputed and a recounted demanded. But while recount was underway and Ivoirians in Ivory Coast waiting, France (a major Ouattara supporter) declared Ouattara winner over French media in France and people in Ivory Coast got news of the alleged Ouattara victory from relatives and friends abroad!
> 
> Besides, Ouattara is unqualified to be president of Ivory Coast! Alassane Ouattara is Burkina Faso born and Burkina Faso national, and the Constitutional of Ivory Coast mandates that its president be the offspring of an Ivorian father and an Ivorian mother.
> 
> Gbagbo and several informed folks opposed the strategy by France (an enemy of Gbagbo because of Gbagbo's determination to amend unfair deal decades ago between France and Ivory Coast - in which France gets about 90% of profit for managing Ivory Coast's resources). The election dispute went to the Supreme Court of Ivory Coast and Supreme Court ruled in favor of Laurent Gbagbo. And this, people, besides other issues is why Laurent Gbagbo refuses to step down.
> 
> The forced installation of puppet Ouattara by France and UN is nothing but a perfect display of Neo-colonialism! And what these world bullies forget to realize here is that they have also set the stage for a possible Rwanda Genocide:
> 
> Alassane Ouattara = Injustice = No Peace in Ivory Coast! No nation should be governed by a non-national. For detailed info, search "Staging a Rwanda Genocide."



Thanks for the info I will look into it, I did not know Ouattara was not from the Ivory Coast, but since all of this went down anyways what does the future look like for the Ivory Coast? another civil war?


----------



## LAfrique

A possible Rwanda Genocide is what lurks in Cote d'Ivoire!


----------



## Baruch Menachem

I think the folks in Ivory Coast are tired of this.   The place was moderately successful from independence for a long time, and it can be again.
If the place is run rationally, it can be an African Hong Kong.


----------



## High_Gravity

LAfrique said:


> A possible Rwanda Genocide is what lurks in Cote d'Ivoire!



I really hope not, thats not what the folks over there need.


----------



## Baruch Menachem

The last I read, the North was an Ayn Rand sort of paradise.  If Objectivist economics works anywhere, and if they keep it up, it will make a great social experiment.   My major hope for every third world pest hole is that they get their act together and make the economy grow so that such things as Ruwanda never happen again.


----------



## uscitizen

So when we are going to bomb the Ivory Coast? 


I dunno but it must be soon since they are endangering our national security with possible chocolate shortages!


----------



## Baruch Menachem

The civil war there is actually a Vast Conspiracy led by Planned Parenthood and the Zero Population Growth people.    No Chocolate, nobody getting laid, no babies.

Terral has all the details.


----------



## High_Gravity

Ivory Coast set for party but can Ouattara clean up?









> Up to a 100,000 people are expected in the nation's capital, Yamoussoukro, along with French President Nicholas Sarkozy, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and more than 20 other heads of state for the ceremony - six months after November's election.
> 
> The streets have been patched up and swept clean, outdoor stages set up and 400,000 condoms are being handed out for an "investiture without HIV".
> 
> The Karamoko family, who are from the north of the country but live in the main southern port city of Abidjan, will be watching the investiture on television.
> 
> As for many families, an election that was meant to end a decade-long crisis with the country split between north and south, has left a trail of sadness.
> 
> Alassane Karamoko was burnt to death along with three neighbours, who were also from the north, in a taxi that was stopped by militia men looking for supporters of Mr Ouattara - seen by backers of former President Laurent Gbagbo as the candidate of northerners.
> 
> "With all that's happened, it's had an impact on all of us", said Mr Karamoko's brother, Lacina.
> 
> "But for a real reconciliation we need to put ourselves in God's hands and move forward with love and forgiveness so Ivory Coast can progress."
> 
> *'Feeling of joy'*
> 
> Abidjan's party district is hoping the scars of battle will not stop people from celebrating The family live in Yopougon, known as the party district of Abidjan, where people come in the evenings to the restaurants and nightclubs.
> 
> This was the last pro-Gbagbo area to fall and even though the guns have fallen silent, one does not need to look far to see the impact that the battle has had - there are bullet holes and rocket impacts every few metres.
> 
> But in Abobo, a pro-Ouattara area of Abidjan where thousands of residents fled attacks by pro-Gbagbo forces, the main market is now bustling. Mangoes and avocadoes are on sale and butchers can be seen cutting up meat.
> 
> "There are some who are still traumatised and struggle to recover from the shock," says Maimouna Fofana, a market trader who witnessed a shell landing on the local market in which some 20 people were killed.
> 
> "[But] life is really getting back to normal. Things are working, people have come back and get on with their business as if nothing happened. There's some fear, but we work and it's OK."
> 
> Market prices are still high due to informal roadblocks, but electricity and water supplies have been repaired in the city once hailed as the Paris of Africa for its high living standards.
> 
> Activity has also resumed at Abidjan's port, which was virtually deserted just a few weeks ago.
> 
> The port was secured by French soldiers towards the end of the battle for Abidjan, something that has left the government's major revenue earner intact.



BBC News - Ivory Coast set for party but can Ouattara clean up?


----------



## Baruch Menachem

I'd like to know what kind of policies he is pursuing.  

On the positive side, he seems relatively free market.   On the minus, this the islamic side that won.  I wonder how much Shiara support he brings with him.


----------



## High_Gravity

Land conflict in Ivory Coast's wild west simmers on








> FENGOLO, Ivory Coast (Reuters) - World leaders have lauded the inauguration of President Alassane Ouattara as marking the end of the violence in Ivory Coast, but villagers in the volatile, cocoa-growing west are much less sure.
> 
> Ouattara was invested as head of state on Saturday in front of 20 other national leaders and U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, an event they hope will enable the former economic star of West Africa to recover from the worst turmoil in its recent history.
> 
> But in the rolling hills cloaked in tropical forest and cocoa trees near the border with Liberia, the local tensions that flared into war during Ouattara's bitter poll dispute with ex-president Laurent Gbabgo are far from resolved.
> 
> "For us, this war was never really about the election," said Diara Yakonda, chief of the Dioula half of Fengolo, a village divided in two by an ethnic feud over cocoa-growing land.
> 
> Ouattara's migrant Dioula tribe occupies the land on one side of the road cutting through Fengolo, while the indigenous Guere people, seen as pro-Gbabgo, live on the other.
> 
> "There was a conflict between Dioula and Guere long before the election. They want our land, but we'll never give it up," Yakonda said.



Land conflict in Ivory Coast's wild west simmers on | World | Reuters


----------



## LAfrique

Alassane Ouattara is outright display of neo-colonialism. Ivory Coast Constitution defiler Alassane Ouattara = Injustice = No Peace in Ivory Coast!


----------



## High_Gravity

LAfrique said:


> Alassane Ouattara is outright display of neo-colonialism. Ivory Coast Constitution defiler Alassane Ouattara = Injustice = No Peace in Ivory Coast!



Do you live in the Ivory Coast?


----------



## High_Gravity

West Africa Rising: Ivory Coast recovering from season of violence








> Its now been six weeks since Laurent Gbagbo, the erstwhile president of Ivory Coast, emerged in his undershirt from a bunker beneath the presidential palace in Abidjan, ending a four-month standoff that claimed 3,000 lives and ground the countrys economy to a halt.
> 
> With its ports reopened and a new leader in place, Ivory Coast  once West Africas most vibrant economy  has begun to get back on its feet. But the country has been deeply wounded by its season of violence, and the effects of the turmoil are lingering.
> 
> In a key political display on Saturday, Mr. Gbagbos successor, Alassane Ouattara, was formally sworn in as the countrys fifth president. Twenty heads of state attended the inauguration, as did United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
> 
> This ceremony today is not about the victory of one side over another, but about rediscovered brotherhood and new beginnings, Mr. Ouattara told the gathered dignitaries in the capital Yamoussoukro, AP reported.
> 
> Meanwhile, nearly 200 miles away in the remote northern city of Korhogo, Gbagbo remained under house arrest in a villa guarded by UN peacekeepers and soldiers loyal to Ouattara. The former leader, who refused to relinquish his decade-long hold on the presidency after losing an election late last year, is being held for questioning over his role in the violence that gripped the country during the ensuing power struggle.
> 
> Its not yet clear whether Gbagbo will face any sort of trial in his home country, but it seems increasingly likely that he could face prosecution by the International Criminal Court. Earlier this month, Ouattara invited the ICC to look into the countrys post-election violence, saying that conducting such an investigation within Ivory Coast would risk running into all kinds of difficulties.
> 
> As the political dust begins to settle, life is slowly getting back to normal in Ivory Coast. Banks have reopened, schools are back in session, government salaries are being paid, and the ports are functioning again.
> 
> Critically, exports of cocoa  Ivory Coasts most important cash crop  resumed earlier this month. About 400,000 tons of cocoa beans had accumulated in warehouses since January, when Ouattara announced a ban on all exports in an attempt to cut off funds to Gbagbo, who still controlled the ports. The resulting drop in supply caused cocoa to hit its highest price since 1979.



West Africa Rising: Ivory Coast recovering from season of violence - CSMonitor.com


----------



## High_Gravity

Ivory Coast needs 20 billion euros, says president








> PARIS  The new Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara says he will tell the G8 summit on Friday that his war-torn country needs up to 20 billion euros ($28 billion) in aid over the next five years.
> 
> "We need between 15 and 20 billion euros for the next five years. That is how much my programme will cost," he added on France's Europe 1 radio station.
> 
> "I am hoping for a confirmation of their appreciation of democracy in Ivory Coast, to reduce poverty. We want Ivory Coast to put an end to this long period of economic agony and reconcile our people," said Ouattara, who is a guest at a summit in France with leaders of the world's eight most industrialised nations.
> 
> Ouattara, who was sworn in as president on May 21 after a bitter and violent post-election crisis, did not list all the nations he would ask for help.
> 
> But he said, "there is a price to pay and I am counting on the G8" to be a partner in Ivory Coast's development.
> 
> He said that French President Nicolas Sarkozy has made assurances on debt reduction and suggested two billion euro in development assistance might be available.
> 
> "Of course, I will ask for a little more from the (US) president," Ouattara added.
> 
> "The G8 must help us because Ivory Coast was a case study," he said.
> 
> The UN, African Union and several foreign governments stood firmly behind Ouattara when his political rival Laurent Gbagbo refused to cede power after being declared the loser of the country's November vote.
> 
> Several top international officials said the standoff was a test for democracy in Africa and that an incumbent president must not be allowed to get away with altering the results of an election he clearly lost.
> 
> He explained his country's needs are particularly acute because Ivory Coast faces a seven percent reduction in growth this year brought on by the post-election crisis that left 3,000 dead, according to the new government.
> 
> Ouattara also chided Gbagbo for "spending more than one billion euros over the last seven years on weapons."
> 
> In the same interview, Ouattara said that he asked Sarkozy to maintain France's military presence in Ivory Coast.
> 
> The French force, known as Licorne, played an active role during the unrest in Ivory Coast, and even supported, along with UN peacekeepers, the effort by pro-Ouattara militias to arrest Gbagbo.
> 
> Ouattara justified the continued presence of French troops saying that to combat the threats of terrorism and drug tafficking Ivory Coast "needs a sophisticated intelligence system and France can give us this support."



AFP: Ivory Coast needs 20 billion euros, says president


----------



## High_Gravity

Ivorian Refugees Strain Resources in Liberia




> Ivory Coast is still reeling from a post-electoral crisis that killed at least 3,000 people and displaced more than a million after former president Laurent Gbagbo refused to cede power to U.N.-certified winner of last November's election, Alassane Ouattara.
> 
> The Liberia office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees says as many as 190,000 refugees from Ivory Coast fled to eastern Liberia, though registration and verification are still underway to obtain exact numbers.
> 
> The influx began late last year to Liberia's northeastern Nimba County where many refugees had familial and ethnic ties. It then shifted further south to Grand Gedeh and Maryland counties in April as fighters loyal to Ouattara swept through western Ivory Coast on their way to the commercial capital Abidjan.
> 
> More than 20,000 refugees arrived in Grand Gedeh county in a single week that month, overwhelming already struggling border communities like the small town of Tuzon, which had already taken in 1,500 Ivorian refugees just days after before Gbagbo was arrested in mid-April.
> 
> Cocoa farmer Maurice Beh and his family fled fighting near their home in western Ivory Coast in March, and like many they hid in the forest before crossing into Liberia.
> 
> Beh says since they arrived in Tuzon, food has been a problem. He says they have to get small day contracts to do odd jobs and be paid so they can buy rice for their families. He says they work in the forest or look for snails to sell in town. He says they don't have shelter and sleep where they can, even outside.
> 
> In recent weeks, the situation in communities like Tuzon has gotten even more desperate, and Liberia's internal affairs minister, Harrison Kanwea, has called for increased international aid.
> 
> "The situation is pathetic. It has overwhelmed the local communities," said Kanwea. "Right now, the host communities have depleted their supplies of food in their effort in helping their brothers and sisters that have come across from the other side."
> 
> UNHCR Liberia Representative, Ibrahmia Coly, said 85 percent of refugees are still in Liberian border communities and the agency has revised its strategy to provide assistance to all refugees, not just those in transit centers or camps further from the border, as it had previously planned.
> 
> However, he said reaching those communities can be a logistical nightmare, especially as the onset of rainy season makes the region's notoriously bad roads even more impassable.



Ivorian Refugees Strain Resources in Liberia | Africa | English


----------



## High_Gravity

Ivory Coasts Ouattara Rewards Allies in Government, ICG Says



> June 2 (Bloomberg) -- Ivory Coasts president, Alassane Ouattara, is rewarding the allies that stood by him during a post-election crisis with key posts being handed to an opposition coalition, said Gilles Yabi, West Africa director of the International Crisis Group.
> 
> The new cabinet is not really a government of reconciliation with no appointees from the party former leader Laurent Gbagbo, Yabi said by phone from Paris today. The list reflects a willingness to express gratitude to those politicians who have helped contribute to Ouattaras victory.
> 
> Ouattara was sworn in on May 21, taking power almost six months after a disputed election where Gbagbo, who ruled the worlds top cocoa producer for a decade, refused to cede power. At estimated 2,000 people were killed in clashes, according to the United Nations, before Gbagbos April 11 capture eased the crisis.
> 
> Gbagbos Front Populaire Ivoirien will not take part in Ouattaras administration until the former leader and his aides are released, Mamadou Koulibaly, a senior party member, said on May 25.
> 
> Ouattara retained Guillaume Soro and prime minister and Charles Koffi Diby as finance minister, according to a statement handed to reporters yesterday in Abidjan, the commercial capital. The agriculture ministry, which oversees the cocoa industry, will be headed by Mamadou Sangafowa Coulibaly.
> 
> *Opposition Rewarded*
> 
> The smaller opposition Parti Democratique de Cote dIvoire was rewarded with posts at ministries including foreign affairs and economic infrastructure, said Samir Gadio, emerging markets strategist with Standard Bank Plc.
> 
> This is a relatively inclusive government, he said in an e-mail.
> 
> The PDCI ruled Ivory Coast from when it attained independence from colonial ruler France in 1960 until 1999. Its candidate in the first round of last years presidential election, Henri Konan Bedie, threw his support behind Ouattara in the November runoff.
> 
> The 36-member administration will need to address continuing insecurity in the country and reunification of a nation split since between a government-held south and rebel- controlled north following a 2002 army mutiny. The northerners supported Ouattara in the post-election fighting.
> 
> Ivory Coast is still in a critical and very fragile phase, at least until the legislative elections that are planned for the end of the year, said Yabi.
> 
> Cocoa for July delivery fell for a second day, declining 7 pounds or 0.4 percent to 1,807 pounds per metric ton by 2:02 p.m. in London on the NYSE Liffe market.
> 
> Ivory Coasts defaulted $2.3 billion Eurobonds rallied for a second day, increasing 0.7 percent to 55.667 cents on the dollar as of 2:04 p.m. in London, according to prices compiled by Bloomberg.



Ivory Coast&rsquo;s Ouattara Rewards Allies in Government, ICG Says - Businessweek


----------



## High_Gravity

Look deeper at Ivory Coast, HRW tells ICC








> BRUSSELS, June 24 (UPI) -- Human Rights Watch said a decision from the International Criminal Court to probe post-election violence in Ivory Coast doesn't reach far enough.
> 
> The chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court asked ICC judges for permission to launch an investigation into possible war crimes and crimes against humanity alleged to have been committed in Ivory Coast since November.
> 
> Ivory Coast was pushed to the brink of civil war following a political stalemate that last from November to April. The international community recognized Alassane Ouattara as the winner of a November election though incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo refused to stand down.
> 
> Elise Keppler, a senior justice counsel at Human Rights Watch, said the prosecutor's decision was needed to hold those responsible for the post-election violence accountable.
> 
> "It will be important that ICC investigations go beyond the latest abuses, though, and address terrible crimes committed over the past decade," she said in a statement.
> 
> A U.S. national emergency was declared for the Ivory Coast in 2006 to deal with what the White House said was an "unusual and extraordinary threat" to national security interests.
> 
> Gbagbo signed a peace deal with rebel leaders in 2003 following a civil war that divided the country. The deal collapsed in 2004, however, and by 2006, Gbagbo was challenging decisions by the U.N. Security Council to strengthen the power of the prime minister as skirmishes with opposition forces intensified.
> 
> The White House in a statement said post-2002 conflicts in the Ivory Coast resulted in the "massacre" of civilians, human rights abuses and fatal attacks on peacekeeping forces.




Read more: Look deeper at Ivory Coast, HRW tells ICC - UPI.com


----------



## Momanohedhunter

High_Gravity said:


> People in the Ivory Coast are being killed by a tyrant, so when we are sending our cruise missiles and fighter jets over there? supposedly we are bombing Libya to do the right thing and help people, so we need to get over to the Ivory Coast and help those folks as well.
> 
> Civilians Die as Ivory Coast Braces for a Defeated President's Last Stand
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> At least 52 civilians have been killed in the past week amid escalating violence instigated by an authoritarian President who refuses to heed the will of his people. No, not in Libya, or Yemen, or Bahrain, but in the West African nation of Ivory Coast, which is struggling for media attention amid crises elsewhere.
> 
> "Ivory Coast isn't considered strategically important enough on the global stage  it is not a Libya, so to speak," one Western diplomat points out. "And that, quite simply, is why it hasn't got the attention it deserves from the international community."
> 
> The erstwhile beacon of prosperity and stability in West Africa has been held hostage for five months by incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo, who has refused to cede power after losing a November runoff presidential election. Instead, he has mobilized the state apparatus and a fanatical core of young militants against the citizens who voted for his challenger, Alassane Ouattara. Daily battles rage between a burgeoning pro-Ouattara insurgency in Abidjan known as the "invisible commandos," and the army, which backs Gbagbo. At least 460 deaths have been confirmed since mid-December, according to the U.N. mission there, known as ONUCI.
> 
> And the violence threatens to escalate as Gbagbo has urged his young backers to join the army en masse. In the main city of Abidjan, some 15,000 youths, mostly unemployed and illiterate, gathered at the army headquarters on March 22. "I'm prepared to defend my country, which is under attack from foreigners," unemployed 17-year-old Venance Kouakou, who rushed to sign up, told TIME. Foreigners, he added, were all those who "voted against Gbagbo, the true President."
> 
> Later, a group of youths marching through Abidjan's once clean, palm-lined streets, chanted loudly, "With our Kalashs, we will target the enemy!" Gbagbo's popularity has long centered on xenophobic rhetoric against migrants from other African countries. Ivorians from the north of the country  where Ouattara has popular support  are considered foreigners by Gbagbo's supporters because many have migrant roots, giving the threat of violence a distinctly xenophobic character.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Read more: Ivory Coast Braces for Civil War as Violence Escalates - TIME
Click to expand...


Same reason we dont bomb Sudan or Mexico, there is no money in it.


----------



## High_Gravity

Momanohedhunter said:


> High_Gravity said:
> 
> 
> 
> People in the Ivory Coast are being killed by a tyrant, so when we are sending our cruise missiles and fighter jets over there? supposedly we are bombing Libya to do the right thing and help people, so we need to get over to the Ivory Coast and help those folks as well.
> 
> Civilians Die as Ivory Coast Braces for a Defeated President's Last Stand
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> At least 52 civilians have been killed in the past week amid escalating violence instigated by an authoritarian President who refuses to heed the will of his people. No, not in Libya, or Yemen, or Bahrain, but in the West African nation of Ivory Coast, which is struggling for media attention amid crises elsewhere.
> 
> "Ivory Coast isn't considered strategically important enough on the global stage  it is not a Libya, so to speak," one Western diplomat points out. "And that, quite simply, is why it hasn't got the attention it deserves from the international community."
> 
> The erstwhile beacon of prosperity and stability in West Africa has been held hostage for five months by incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo, who has refused to cede power after losing a November runoff presidential election. Instead, he has mobilized the state apparatus and a fanatical core of young militants against the citizens who voted for his challenger, Alassane Ouattara. Daily battles rage between a burgeoning pro-Ouattara insurgency in Abidjan known as the "invisible commandos," and the army, which backs Gbagbo. At least 460 deaths have been confirmed since mid-December, according to the U.N. mission there, known as ONUCI.
> 
> And the violence threatens to escalate as Gbagbo has urged his young backers to join the army en masse. In the main city of Abidjan, some 15,000 youths, mostly unemployed and illiterate, gathered at the army headquarters on March 22. "I'm prepared to defend my country, which is under attack from foreigners," unemployed 17-year-old Venance Kouakou, who rushed to sign up, told TIME. Foreigners, he added, were all those who "voted against Gbagbo, the true President."
> 
> Later, a group of youths marching through Abidjan's once clean, palm-lined streets, chanted loudly, "With our Kalashs, we will target the enemy!" Gbagbo's popularity has long centered on xenophobic rhetoric against migrants from other African countries. Ivorians from the north of the country  where Ouattara has popular support  are considered foreigners by Gbagbo's supporters because many have migrant roots, giving the threat of violence a distinctly xenophobic character.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Read more: Ivory Coast Braces for Civil War as Violence Escalates - TIME
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Same reason we dont bomb Sudan or Mexico, there is no money in it.
Click to expand...


You nailed it, if the Ivory Coast had oil we'd have the 101st Air borne in there so quick it would shatter the sound barrier.


----------



## Momanohedhunter

High_Gravity said:


> Momanohedhunter said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> High_Gravity said:
> 
> 
> 
> People in the Ivory Coast are being killed by a tyrant, so when we are sending our cruise missiles and fighter jets over there? supposedly we are bombing Libya to do the right thing and help people, so we need to get over to the Ivory Coast and help those folks as well.
> 
> Civilians Die as Ivory Coast Braces for a Defeated President's Last Stand
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Read more: Ivory Coast Braces for Civil War as Violence Escalates - TIME
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Same reason we dont bomb Sudan or Mexico, there is no money in it.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> You nailed it, if the Ivory Coast had oil we'd have the 101st Air borne in there so quick it would shatter the sound barrier.
Click to expand...


Yup, and it is disgusting considering we lost more men in our wars in the middle east, for humanitarian reasons, yet Ivory coast, sierra Leon, and other can be ignored. Its bull shit, and our politicians should be ill with shame.


----------



## High_Gravity

Momanohedhunter said:


> High_Gravity said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Momanohedhunter said:
> 
> 
> 
> Same reason we dont bomb Sudan or Mexico, there is no money in it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You nailed it, if the Ivory Coast had oil we'd have the 101st Air borne in there so quick it would shatter the sound barrier.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yup, and it is disgusting considering we lost more men in our wars in the middle east, for humanitarian reasons, yet Ivory coast, sierra Leon, and other can be ignored. Its bull shit, and our politicians should be ill with shame.
Click to expand...


Yup and the people in these countries need the help even more than the people in Iraq and Libya who we bombed the shit out of. But since there is no capital coming from the Ivory Coast and it is dirt poor, they will be ignored.


----------



## Momanohedhunter

High_Gravity said:


> Momanohedhunter said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> High_Gravity said:
> 
> 
> 
> You nailed it, if the Ivory Coast had oil we'd have the 101st Air borne in there so quick it would shatter the sound barrier.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yup, and it is disgusting considering we lost more men in our wars in the middle east, for humanitarian reasons, yet Ivory coast, sierra Leon, and other can be ignored. Its bull shit, and our politicians should be ill with shame.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yup and the people in these countries need the help even more than the people in Iraq and Libya who we bombed the shit out of. But since there is no capital coming from the Ivory Coast and it is dirt poor, they will be ignored.
Click to expand...


And that what is so sad. The U.S. and other world leader dont see the value in Africa and Africans. I have personally seen the squalor they live in, and the diseases they live with, hell, the water they have to drink is disgusting. It makes you want to slap the shit out of people who piss and moan about haw bad they have it here. Thirst ? No one in this country has a clue what that is, its the same Hunger, no one in this country has a clue what starving is. But the one thing that blows me away, is that despite all the bad African still find it possible to smile, and find happiness in something . They are tough as woodpecker lips, and I feel would be a better cause to dump billions into.


----------



## High_Gravity

Momanohedhunter said:


> High_Gravity said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Momanohedhunter said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yup, and it is disgusting considering we lost more men in our wars in the middle east, for humanitarian reasons, yet Ivory coast, sierra Leon, and other can be ignored. Its bull shit, and our politicians should be ill with shame.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yup and the people in these countries need the help even more than the people in Iraq and Libya who we bombed the shit out of. But since there is no capital coming from the Ivory Coast and it is dirt poor, they will be ignored.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> And that what is so sad. The U.S. and other world leader dont see the value in Africa and Africans. I have personally seen the squalor they live in, and the diseases they live with, hell, the water they have to drink is disgusting. It makes you want to slap the shit out of people who piss and moan about haw bad they have it here. Thirst ? No one in this country has a clue what that is, its the same Hunger, no one in this country has a clue what starving is. But the one thing that blows me away, is that despite all the bad African still find it possible to smile, and find happiness in something . They are tough as woodpecker lips, and I feel would be a better cause to dump billions into.
Click to expand...


I agree 110% my friend, people in the US complain if their are half an hour late going to lunch, none of us has any idea what true hunger is like in countries such as Somalia, Zimbabwe, the Ivory Coast etc, we give billions to countries like Egypt, Pakistan and Afghanistan where the people DESPISE Americans, they hate us and would not piss on us if we were on fire. I don't know how Africans feel about the US but I would much rather see us invest our money in Africa if we have to put it somewhere instead of the Middle East and Pakistan, those guys are ungrateful and don't appreciate the moneys we give them, the Africans would. I know we already give money and aid to African countries but they are definently not getting the attention the countries in the Middle East are getting.


----------



## Momanohedhunter

High_Gravity said:


> Momanohedhunter said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> High_Gravity said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yup and the people in these countries need the help even more than the people in Iraq and Libya who we bombed the shit out of. But since there is no capital coming from the Ivory Coast and it is dirt poor, they will be ignored.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And that what is so sad. The U.S. and other world leader dont see the value in Africa and Africans. I have personally seen the squalor they live in, and the diseases they live with, hell, the water they have to drink is disgusting. It makes you want to slap the shit out of people who piss and moan about haw bad they have it here. Thirst ? No one in this country has a clue what that is, its the same Hunger, no one in this country has a clue what starving is. But the one thing that blows me away, is that despite all the bad African still find it possible to smile, and find happiness in something . They are tough as woodpecker lips, and I feel would be a better cause to dump billions into.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I agree 110% my friend, people in the US complain if their are half an hour late going to lunch, none of us has any idea what true hunger is like in countries such as Somalia, Zimbabwe, the Ivory Coast etc, we give billions to countries like Egypt, Pakistan and Afghanistan where the people DESPISE Americans, they hate us and would not piss on us if we were on fire. I don't know how Africans feel about the US but I would much rather see us invest our money in Africa if we have to put it somewhere instead of the Middle East and Pakistan, those guys are ungrateful and don't appreciate the moneys we give them, the Africans would. I know we already give money and aid to African countries but they are definently not getting the attention the countries in the Middle East are getting.
Click to expand...


All those I met loved Americans. Some of the things we do they find odd, but they do understand what work is. One problem with getting them money is all the "feed the children " scams perpetrated from this country, Bennie Henn and his ilk. All kinds of mission trips head over there. I highly recommend it if you have vacation time coming . It will change the way you see things. Just dont drink the water.


----------



## High_Gravity

Momanohedhunter said:


> High_Gravity said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Momanohedhunter said:
> 
> 
> 
> And that what is so sad. The U.S. and other world leader dont see the value in Africa and Africans. I have personally seen the squalor they live in, and the diseases they live with, hell, the water they have to drink is disgusting. It makes you want to slap the shit out of people who piss and moan about haw bad they have it here. Thirst ? No one in this country has a clue what that is, its the same Hunger, no one in this country has a clue what starving is. But the one thing that blows me away, is that despite all the bad African still find it possible to smile, and find happiness in something . They are tough as woodpecker lips, and I feel would be a better cause to dump billions into.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I agree 110% my friend, people in the US complain if their are half an hour late going to lunch, none of us has any idea what true hunger is like in countries such as Somalia, Zimbabwe, the Ivory Coast etc, we give billions to countries like Egypt, Pakistan and Afghanistan where the people DESPISE Americans, they hate us and would not piss on us if we were on fire. I don't know how Africans feel about the US but I would much rather see us invest our money in Africa if we have to put it somewhere instead of the Middle East and Pakistan, those guys are ungrateful and don't appreciate the moneys we give them, the Africans would. I know we already give money and aid to African countries but they are definently not getting the attention the countries in the Middle East are getting.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> All those I met loved Americans. Some of the things we do they find odd, but they do understand what work is. One problem with getting them money is all the "feed the children " scams perpetrated from this country, Bennie Henn and his ilk. All kinds of mission trips head over there. I highly recommend it if you have vacation time coming . It will change the way you see things. Just dont drink the water.
Click to expand...


I have always wanted to go to Africa, when I was in the Military they sent me to the Middle East 2 times, once to Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, but a friend of mine was lucky and got to deploy to Djibouti, that is a small country in Africa on the border with Somalia and Ethiopia, he loved it there he said it was like being on a vacation, the locals loved having the Americans around. From what I hear Africans have no problem with the US for the most part unless they are radicalized Muslims like the ones in Nigeria and Somalia.


----------



## Momanohedhunter

High_Gravity said:


> Momanohedhunter said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> High_Gravity said:
> 
> 
> 
> I agree 110% my friend, people in the US complain if their are half an hour late going to lunch, none of us has any idea what true hunger is like in countries such as Somalia, Zimbabwe, the Ivory Coast etc, we give billions to countries like Egypt, Pakistan and Afghanistan where the people DESPISE Americans, they hate us and would not piss on us if we were on fire. I don't know how Africans feel about the US but I would much rather see us invest our money in Africa if we have to put it somewhere instead of the Middle East and Pakistan, those guys are ungrateful and don't appreciate the moneys we give them, the Africans would. I know we already give money and aid to African countries but they are definently not getting the attention the countries in the Middle East are getting.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> All those I met loved Americans. Some of the things we do they find odd, but they do understand what work is. One problem with getting them money is all the "feed the children " scams perpetrated from this country, Bennie Henn and his ilk. All kinds of mission trips head over there. I highly recommend it if you have vacation time coming . It will change the way you see things. Just dont drink the water.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I have always wanted to go to Africa, when I was in the Military they sent me to the Middle East 2 times, once to Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, but a friend of mine was lucky and got to deploy to Djibouti, that is a small country in Africa on the border with Somalia and Ethiopia, he loved it there he said it was like being on a vacation, the locals loved having the Americans around. From what I hear Africans have no problem with the US for the most part unless they are radicalized Muslims like the ones in Nigeria and Somalia.
Click to expand...


They are good folk. And it would blow your ass away, but ware we were they loved Bush#2.


----------



## Momanohedhunter

Some stuff on Nigeria-  www.nigeria.gov.ng

Missions- Village Care International

Our churches trip pictures are not up. Any way, there is tons of opportunity to go. I plan on doing it again.


----------



## High_Gravity

Momanohedhunter said:


> Some stuff on Nigeria-  www.nigeria.gov.ng
> 
> Missions- Village Care International
> 
> Our churches trip pictures are not up. Any way, there is tons of opportunity to go. I plan on doing it again.



Thats awesome, what part of Nigeria do you go to? I heard the north is full of Islamic Militants who want Sharia law.


----------



## Ropey

Momanohedhunter said:


> Some stuff on Nigeria-  www.nigeria.gov.ng
> 
> Missions- Village Care International
> 
> Our churches trip pictures are not up. Any way, there is tons of opportunity to go. I plan on doing it again.



Good man.


----------



## Momanohedhunter

High_Gravity said:


> Momanohedhunter said:
> 
> 
> 
> Some stuff on Nigeria-  www.nigeria.gov.ng
> 
> Missions- Village Care International
> 
> Our churches trip pictures are not up. Any way, there is tons of opportunity to go. I plan on doing it again.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Thats awesome, what part of Nigeria do you go to? I heard the north is full of Islamic Militants who want Sharia law.
Click to expand...


This is ware that majority of all Mission trips start. From there you will head out to the country and help dig wells or what ever here is a map of Jos.

jos nigeria - Google Maps

I am on my Churches website to try and find pics, but they are not up there. I will try and get some up. You do have to move around with armed guards, but everyone WE met was hospitable and kind. The kids were a blast.


----------



## High_Gravity

Momanohedhunter said:


> High_Gravity said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Momanohedhunter said:
> 
> 
> 
> Some stuff on Nigeria-  www.nigeria.gov.ng
> 
> Missions- Village Care International
> 
> Our churches trip pictures are not up. Any way, there is tons of opportunity to go. I plan on doing it again.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Thats awesome, what part of Nigeria do you go to? I heard the north is full of Islamic Militants who want Sharia law.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> This is ware that majority of all Mission trips start. From there you will head out to the country and help dig wells or what ever here is a map of Jos.
> 
> jos nigeria - Google Maps
> 
> I am on my Churches website to try and find pics, but they are not up there. I will try and get some up. You do have to move around with armed guards, but everyone WE met was hospitable and kind. The kids were a blast.
Click to expand...


Good on you for going over there and helping out.


----------



## Momanohedhunter

High_Gravity said:


> Momanohedhunter said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> High_Gravity said:
> 
> 
> 
> Thats awesome, what part of Nigeria do you go to? I heard the north is full of Islamic Militants who want Sharia law.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This is ware that majority of all Mission trips start. From there you will head out to the country and help dig wells or what ever here is a map of Jos.
> 
> jos nigeria - Google Maps
> 
> I am on my Churches website to try and find pics, but they are not up there. I will try and get some up. You do have to move around with armed guards, but everyone WE met was hospitable and kind. The kids were a blast.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Good on you for going over there and helping out.
Click to expand...


Make the trip if you can. You wont regret it.


----------



## Momanohedhunter

Here is our guys web site. Look at those kids laughing. Mine dont even cut up that much.

Relief Network Portal


----------



## uscitizen

High_Gravity said:


> Momanohedhunter said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> High_Gravity said:
> 
> 
> 
> People in the Ivory Coast are being killed by a tyrant, so when we are sending our cruise missiles and fighter jets over there? supposedly we are bombing Libya to do the right thing and help people, so we need to get over to the Ivory Coast and help those folks as well.
> 
> Civilians Die as Ivory Coast Braces for a Defeated President's Last Stand
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Read more: Ivory Coast Braces for Civil War as Violence Escalates - TIME
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Same reason we dont bomb Sudan or Mexico, there is no money in it.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> You nailed it, if the Ivory Coast had oil we'd have the 101st Air borne in there so quick it would shatter the sound barrier.
Click to expand...


Hell with oil they have chocolate!


----------



## High_Gravity

Ivory Coast signs ICC accord, pledges no impunity



> ABIDJAN, June 28 (Reuters) - Ivory Coast's justice minister pledged that no one who committed war crimes during a post-poll power struggle would escape justice, as he signed a cooperation accord on Tuesday with the International Criminal Court (ICC).
> 
> The ICC's deputy prosecutor Fatou Bensouda was in Abidjan on Tuesday to open an investigation into crimes committed by either side in a standoff between President Alassane Ouattara and former president Laurent Gbagbo after a Nov. 28 election.
> 
> Gbagbo's supporters complain that not a single member of Ouattara's camp has been arrested for alleged crimes, despite evidence of abuses by the former rebel troops.
> 
> Bensouda was due to meet Ivorian officials to discuss the ICC investigation, for which ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo lodged a request with the ICC judges last week.
> 
> "Your presence ... is a strong signal that no one can commit a crime without being found out and punished," Justice Minister Jeannot Ahoussou Kouadio said at the signing of the agreement.



Ivory Coast signs ICC accord, pledges no impunity | News by Country | Reuters


----------



## editec

*



So when we are going to bomb the Ivory Coast?

Click to expand...

 
The very moment that EXXON discovers how to get oil out of ivory, would be my guess*


----------



## High_Gravity

Ivory Coast charges two more officials from ousted regime








> ABIDJAN  Prosecutors in Ivory Coast said Friday they had charged two more loyalists of ousted president Laurent Gbagbo with corruption and undermining state authority.
> 
> Some 22 members of the former regime have now been charged since Gbagbo was seized by fighters loyal to his rival following a five-month post-election stalemate that the United Nations says left some 3,000 people dead.
> 
> Habiba Coulibaly, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor's office, said the two individuals, who she did not name, were charged and detained for diverting public funds and crimes against state security.
> 
> They are being held at La Pergola hotel in Abidjan, Coulibaly said.
> 
> Gbagbo remains under house arrest in the north of the country along with his wife and 13 other close associates.
> 
> His political rival, President Alassane Ouattara, pledged to investigate all crimes committed during the country's post-election crisis, regardless of the political loyalties of the perpetrators.
> 
> But rights groups have since accused Ouattara of pursuing selective justice by aggressively probing crimes committed by his adversaries, while ignoring the shady conduct of his loyalists.
> 
> The UN Human Rights Council said last month that investigators it sent to the country believe war crimes may have been committed by both sides.



AFP: I.Coast charges two more officials from ousted regime


----------



## Ropey

^^ Nice

It's starting to look as though the horror is to be probed for human criminality and maybe worse deeds will be probed.  Of course war crimes are committed by both sides and those in power will soften the effects by the very nature of their greater power.

This is to be expected. But even so, this is forwards looking and with a positive momentum, considering the past history.


----------



## High_Gravity

Ropey said:


> ^^ Nice
> 
> It's starting to look as though the horror is to be probed for human criminality and maybe worse deeds will be probed.  Of course war crimes are committed by both sides and those in power will soften the effects by the very nature of their greater power.
> 
> This is to be expected. But even so, this is forwards looking and with a positive momentum, considering the past history.



Most definently, its time for the Ivory Coast to move forward and stop focusing so much on war and focus on developing their country, most countries in Africa need to start focusing on that.


----------



## Momanohedhunter

High_Gravity said:


> Ropey said:
> 
> 
> 
> ^^ Nice
> 
> It's starting to look as though the horror is to be probed for human criminality and maybe worse deeds will be probed.  Of course war crimes are committed by both sides and those in power will soften the effects by the very nature of their greater power.
> 
> This is to be expected. But even so, this is forwards looking and with a positive momentum, considering the past history.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Most definently, its time for the Ivory Coast to move forward and stop focusing so much on war and focus on developing their country, most countries in Africa need to start focusing on that.
Click to expand...


Good people, with lots of potential.


----------



## High_Gravity

UN Urges Rapid Restoration of Order in Ivory Coast








> The chief U.N. envoy for Ivory Coast said Monday there is a window of opportunity for the country's new government, but he also warned that there is a need for a rapid restoration of law and order throughout the country.
> 
> Choi Young-jin, the U.N. special representative for Ivory Coast, told the U.N. Security Council that by and large, the armed elements and supporters of former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo are not likely to mount a substantial challenge to law and order. Choi said the meltdown of Mr. Gbagbo&#8217;s forces bodes well for reconciliation in the country.
> 
> Mr. Gbagbo was defeated by his opponent Alassane Ouattara in Ivory Coast&#8217;s presidential election late last year but refused to give up office. A violent four-month power struggle ensued that displaced an estimated one million people. Mr. Gbagbo was captured at his residence by pro-Ouattara fighters in April and is now being held under house arrest.
> 
> U.N. representative Choi said authorities in Ivory Coast are doing their best to expedite the restoration of law and order throughout the country. He added that U.N. peacekeepers have taken measures to deal with what he termed &#8220;a certain degree of security deficit&#8221; in the country's west. The measures include the establishment of eight new military camps for the U.N. peacekeepers, four of them in the border area with Liberia.
> 
> &#8220;We feel confident, as President Ouattara and his team, who have shown remarkable patience and sang froid [calmness] during the crisis, are working day and night to successfully meet the post-crisis challenges for the benefit of the Ivorian people,&#8221; said Choi.
> 
> Also addressing the Security Council, Ivory Coast&#8217;s representative Youssoufou Bamba said real progress has been achieved in the country&#8217;s security situation. But, he said, there continue to be serious concerns about the situation in western Ivory Coast, particularly along the border with Liberia, where forces loyal to Gbagbo are active.
> 
> Bamba, speaking through a translator, said the government recognizes it cannot ensure security in Ivory Coast without United Nations help.
> 
> &#8220;This is indispensable support and assistance as we implement the goals of the government in order to put the country on the path of progress for the next six months,&#8221; said Bamba, through a transaltor.
> 
> The Ivorian representative denied reports that detained members of the Gbagbo government are being mistreated.



UN Urges Rapid Restoration of Order in Ivory Coast | Africa | English


----------



## Douger

How many barrels do they have ?


----------



## High_Gravity

Son of former Ivory Coast strongman charged



> ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (AP)  An official in Ivory Coast says 12 people including the son of the country's former strongman have been detained and charged over their actions during six months of postelection violence that left thousands dead.
> 
> Spokesman Noel Dje of the Abidjan constable's office said Wednesday the detainees include Michel Gbagbo and Pascal Affi N'Guessan, former head of the Ivorian Popular Front. He said some of the detainees face up to 20 years in prison for charges including challenging state security, xenophobia, rebellion and interfering with the military. Trial dates have not yet been set.
> 
> Dje says former leader Laurent Gbagbo and his wife will be charged but their case will be handled by the Ministry of the Interior.
> 
> Gbagbo's refusal to step down after his defeat in November presidential elections sparked the deadly postelection violence.



The Associated Press: Son of former Ivory Coast strongman charged


----------



## High_Gravity

Ivory Coast: Hundred Cases Of Human Rights Violations 








> ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast  The United Nations says 26 people were killed in the last month in Ivory Coast and that residents blame most of the killings on forces loyal to the president, who was sworn into office in May amid promises to guide the nation to recovery after months of postelection violence.
> 
> Local U.N. Human Rights Chief Guillaume Ngefa said Thursday that the killings happened in parts of the country loyal to former strongman Laurent Gbagbo. He says a 17-month-old child was among those killed.
> 
> He said that in the west, a pro-Gbagbo tribe attacked and killed locals. In other areas the U.N. reported deadly clashes between forces for President Alassane Ouattara and local youths. The U.N. also said armed robbers were killed in what appear to be acts of vigilante justice.
> 
> Presidential spokesman Alain Kakou said he did not know about the killings and declined to comment further.
> 
> Ngefa said regional U.N. offices also received more than 100 reports of human rights violations in the past month, including 85 arbitrary arrests and illegal detentions, along with cases of extortion and racketeering. He also said eight mass graves had been found in July in Abidjan, the economic hub, but that the number of bodies in the graves had not counted.
> 
> He said 11 cases of rape and genital mutilation were also reported, primarily in Duekoue, a Western city where a massacre took place over several days at the end of March. Amnesty International said in a May report that the killings were carried out by forces loyal to Ouattara.
> 
> "The human rights situation in the country remains precarious," he said.
> 
> Gbagbo's refusal to cede power after losing a November poll plunged the country into months of violence that killed thousands. He was arrested in April by forces loyal to Ouattara.
> 
> Thursday's account from the U.N. follows other reports that have accused forces loyal to Ouattara of abuses during the postelection crisis and after his inauguration.
> 
> A July report by Amnesty International accused Ouattara's Republican Forces of continuing to carry out violence and intimidation against ethnic groups perceived as having supported Gbagbo. A different report by Human Rights Watch released in June alleged that forces loyal to Ouattara killed up to 149 people believed to be Gbagbo supporters.
> 
> And an Associated Press report in July documented a slew of brutal killings the day after Ouattara's inauguration in an area loyal to Gbagbo near Liberia's border.
> 
> Ouattara has said that all who have been found to have committed atrocities would be punished, regardless of their affiliation.



Ivory Coast: Hundred Cases Of Human Rights Violations


----------



## High_Gravity

Top Gbagbo regime general detained 



> Abidjan - A general considered one of the most powerful officers in the regime of Ivory Coast's ex-strongman Laurent Gbagbo has been detained over alleged robbery and a probe into a mass grave, prosecutors said on Thursday.
> 
> General Georges Guiai Bi Poin led the much-feared CECOS special operations unit that was tasked with securing the economic capital Abidjan under ex- president Gbagbo.
> 
> The unit, a crucial security organ, was linked to scores of rights abuses and accused by critics of using brutal tactics.
> 
> The general was arrested on Saturday in the context of an inquiry into a "mass grave" discovered by authorities, said a statement sent to AFP by prosecutors in Abidjan.
> 
> The statement also said Guiai Bi Poin was placed in custody and charged in connection with "an economic infraction".
> 
> The general's lawyer, Raoul Gohi-Bi, told AFP his client "is being held [in Abidjan] for violent armed robbery, misappropriation of public funds [and] damaging the national economy".
> 
> President Alassane Ouattara has vowed to unite the country after emerging victorious from a bitter and violent political standoff with his rival Gbagbo, which left some 3 000 people dead.



Top Gbagbo regime general detained : News24: Africa: News


----------



## theHawk

Even if we did anything with our military just for the sake of helping the people, we'd still get accused of going after oil or diamonds or whatever else they may have.  And you'll also get protests from Americans that this country 'never attacked us' or 'who is going to pay for the war'.


----------



## High_Gravity

Is Ivory Coast really a great model for international intervention?









> Before he got to the Palestinian statehood part of his United Nations speech today, President Obama mentioned the West African nation of Ivory Coast as a prime example of international intervention done right. He applauded the will of the "international community" to get involved in a messy situation.
> 
> The fact that French forces, in cooperation with the UN, played a pivotal role in ousting renegade President Laurent Gbagbo in April led to a flurry of anti-interventionist commentary about ex-colonial meddling in African affairs.
> 
> And if the Obama administration sees Ivory Coast as the perfect argument for international intervention, the country's president sees it differently.
> 
> It turns out Alassane Ouattara, sworn in as president of the Ivory Coast after a violent showdown with his predecessor, is no fan of the African Union.
> 
> He has in the past criticized the AU for dithering while the stalemate dragged for months after he won last November's election. He spoke yesterday of the AU's failure during a meeting with the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.
> 
> ECOWAS [The Economic Community of West African States] can mobilize troops and could have really intervened into the scene  just as it had once threatened to do  but the matter was taken to the African Union," said Ouattara, arguing that that AU has no capacity to intervene militarily on the ground. "We gave it time, from November till about February/March. We had the capacity, with my associates, to really remove Gbagbo by force. So we have a dilemma. Should we wait for the ECOWAS and the UN, or should we move on, on our own?
> 
> "We finally made the decision, after the African Union steps did not come to fruition, we decided to move on, Ouattara concluded. In three days actually, the army took over the whole country, except in Abidjan, where Gbagbo had concentrated his force.
> 
> Ouattara still needed the help from the UN and the French to take back the capital, and take out Gbagbo. And maybe that final assault needed all the institutional maneuvering that came before it.
> 
> Thomas J. Bassett, a professor of geography at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and Scott Straus, associate professor of political science and international studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, made that point this summer in a piece that ran in the magazine Foreign Affairs.
> 
> The key message of their article is this: The AU and the regional body ECOWAS consistently backed Ouattara throughout most of the crisis  a notable fact because prior to this, no one would have accused either group of consistency.
> 
> That commitment to honoring Ouattara's victory at the ballot box, in turn, shrank the space for diplomatic maneuver for Gbagbo, which made his life harder not only in the circles of international power brokering, but on the ground: The Central Bank of West Africa, which backs the countrys currency, cut off Gbagbos money supply, argued Mr. Bassett. The UN Security Council unanimously approved the military action that helped take him out.



Is Ivory Coast really a great model for international intervention? - CSMonitor.com


----------



## High_Gravity

I Coast wants suspects in Ghana arrested



> Accra - Ivory Coast's president on Thursday urged Ghana to carry out arrest warrants issued over his country's post-vote conflict as he visited the neighbouring nation where allies of Laurent Gbagbo have fled.
> 
> Alassane Ouattara also called on Ivorians in Ghana to return home, with thousands having taken refuge in the country during the conflict, and sought to reassure them that those who had done nothing wrong would not be prosecuted.
> 
> A joint statement following the Ivorian leader's talks with Ghana President John Atta Mills said Ouattara had made the request regarding arrest warrants linked to the crisis that the UN says left some 3 000 people dead.
> 
> Dozens of figures of the former Gbagbo regime have been detained in Ivory Coast, including Gbagbo himself, but a number of his political and military allies have taken refuge in Accra, including those targeted by arrest warrants in Abidjan.
> 
> "President Alassane Ouattara made a request for Ghana to consider the implementation of the mandate to freeze accounts of and effect the arrest warrants issued against those persons presumed to be guilty of criminal action committed during the Ivorian post-electoral crisis," the statement said.



I Coast wants suspects in Ghana arrested: News24: Africa: News


----------



## Baruch Menachem

This situation is not comforting.   I think the Ivorian refugees will stay put.   Which may be a good thing.

What he can get from Ghana is an assurance that the refugees will not cause problems.

the Ouattara forces managed their half of the country quite well during the troubles.   Ivory Coast may have a chance for prosperity again.


----------



## High_Gravity

Baruch Menachem said:


> This situation is not comforting.   I think the Ivorian refugees will stay put.   Which may be a good thing.
> 
> What he can get from Ghana is an assurance that the refugees will not cause problems.
> 
> the Ouattara forces managed their half of the country quite well during the troubles.   Ivory Coast may have a chance for prosperity again.



If I were one of the refugees I would stay put too until I see more of a guarantee that things will be reasonably safe and go back to normal, I do hope things in the IC can get better.


----------



## kola_yusuf

The manner in which the US arrogates the moral high ground to itself is arrogant, and disturbing.


----------



## High_Gravity

kola_yusuf said:


> The manner in which the US arrogates the moral high ground to itself is arrogant, and disturbing.



What the fuck does that even have to do with this thread faggot? the US is not even in the Ivory Coast.


----------



## High_Gravity

US Encourages Participation in Ivory Coast Poll



> A U.S. official is encouraging Ivory Coast's opposition to participate in upcoming parliamentary elections after the party of the former strongman threatened to boycott the poll.
> 
> U.S. deputy assistant secretary Daniel Baer says he hopes the party of former strongman Laurent Gbagbo will participate in the poll scheduled for Dec. 11. He spoke Friday after meeting with opposition party members in the West African nation.
> 
> He says the U.S. will give $3 million to encourage the poll is held democratically and to support poll monitors.
> 
> Ivory Coast held the first presidential election in a decade last year. Legislative elections were to follow, but they were put on hold when Gbagbo refused to accept his loss, plunging the country into months of violence.



US Encourages Participation in Ivory Coast Poll - ABC News


----------



## High_Gravity

Laurent Gbagbo, Ivory Coast Former President, On International Criminal Court Wanted List 








> ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast  The International Criminal Court on Tuesday issued an arrest warrant for Ivory Coast's former strongman, who refused to accept his loss in last year's election and nearly dragged the country into civil war in a bid to stay in power.
> 
> Ex-President Laurent Gbagbo has been under house arrest for the past seven months, secluded in a tiny village in the country's far north ever since he was ousted by internationally backed forces.
> 
> Paris-based Gbagbo lawyer Emmanuel Altit said the International Criminal Court issued the order Tuesday to his client through Ivory Coast state prosecutors. In Abidjan, Gbagbo spokesman Kone Katinan confirmed that he had received a telephone call Tuesday saying a team from The Hague was coming to transport the former ruler to the Netherlands.
> 
> The ICC's move, which comes almost exactly a year to the day after Ivory Coast's disputed presidential election, threatens to stoke lingering divisions in this country that was brought to the brink of civil war by the election standoff.
> 
> If he is transferred to The Hague, Gbagbo will become the first former head of state to be taken into custody by the international tribunal. The development was applauded by human rights groups that have collected hundreds of pages of testimony from victims of Gbagbo's forces. But they also cautioned that it sends the message of victor's justice, because grave abuses were also committed by forces loyal to the country's democratically elected leader, Alassane Ouattara.
> 
> "While the Gbagbo camp fueled the violence, forces on both sides have been repeatedly implicated in grave crimes. Victims of abuse meted out by forces loyal to President Ouattara (also) deserve to see justice done," said Elise Keppler, senior counsel to Human Rights Watch.
> 
> Gbagbo came to power in a flawed election a decade ago, and then failed to hold elections when his first five-year term expired. His loss in the election last November was confirmed by a team of United Nations observers.
> 
> During the four-month standoff that ensued, his forces are accused of systematically killing opponents and shelling neighborhoods, as well as using tanks to open fire on unarmed women demonstrators.
> 
> Ouattara's army seized control of the country with the help of United Nations and French airstrikes, forcing Gbagbo to surrender on April 11. In the march on Abidjan, Ouattara's forces are accused of torching villages, gunning down civilians and gang raping women in regions of the country known to have voted in large numbers for the ex-president.
> 
> A move to prosecute Gbagbo threatens to unleash further tensions between backers and opponents of the ex-president. Gbagbo still won nearly half the vote in the presidential election even though he ultimately lost to Ouattara.



Laurent Gbagbo, Ivory Coast Former President, On International Criminal Court Wanted List


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## Ropey

High_Gravity said:


> Laurent Gbagbo, Ivory Coast Former President, On International Criminal Court Wanted List







^^^ The Day of Arrest ^^^​


> "The ICC is going against a report by the UN high representative for human rights . . . which said Gbagbo does not threaten Ivory Coast's stability so does not need to be transferred," she added.
> 
> "If it is true that he was the one who ordered these crimes, then he should pay for them," Ferdinand Ahiba, a teacher, told Reuters TV in Abidjan's palm-lined streets.
> 
> The ICC is currently handling 11 cases, including the 2008 post-election violence in Kenya, alleged war crimes committed in the Central African Republic, and Sudan's Darfur region.



They are handling a lot of cases indeed.

ICC issues warrant for I.Coast's Gbagbo: Lawyer




Someday the juggling might stop. Then again, it may not.


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