French Troops Head to Cent. African Rep.

guardian ^ | 3/17/03

[ErnBatavia]

as French troops evacuated

Where have I read this sort of thing before?

[San Jacinto]

A statement from U.N. Secretary-general Kofi Annan called for ``the speedy restoration of the constitutional order and for the respect and protection of the human rights and fundamental freedoms.''

Thank goodness. That will make it all better.

[ErnBatavia]

Well, with all the minerals in CAR, maybe the French can recoup their losses in Iraq

"Them's fighting words!" (a term never heard nor muttered in France....)

[cardinal4]

"Them's fighting words!" (a term never heard nor muttered in France....)

Neither has, "Please pass the soap,"

[genefromjersey]

Non, non, non !

La Belle France should not rush in like some sort of Comme se dit il ? Ah ! Like some sort of "Cowboy Americaine " !

This requires study , contemplation , long, thoughtful debates in le Council Securite .

Perhaps, ummm....
Perhaps we could bring it up in the 2005 General Assembly...

Meanwhile ? Courage mes infants !!

[leilani]

Too funny. Wonder if this will get covered by the BBC.Then again they have too much invested in Monsieur Petain, I mean, Chirac.

[lawnguy]

By the way, anyone have an explanation why all of the former French colonies (except Louisiana and Quebec)

Hey, that's good point. Is there some residual French loyalty in LA?

[Toirdhealbheach Beucail]

And, in other breaking news, the swallows prepared to return to Capistrano...

[PeoplesRep_of_LA]

If only this were a parody. This has been going on for a few weeks here at least (unless I am mistaken)

The press has been playing up the anti French feeling sweeping the nation, but have dropped the ball in covering this Central African Republic story.

Every time the AP brings up De Villipan or Chirac critisizing the Iraq "War" this Unjust war of aggression and mineral wealth should be in the next breath like France and Surrender.

[Toirdhealbheach Beucail]

I reread The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman last week. Speak only for the current generation of French - The French of the early 20th century would have nothing to do with the limp backbones that are running their country now...

[Semper Paratus]

Thier intervention in the Ivory Coast was a cock-up might as well try to hit the daily-double.

[cgbg]

They're the French. They are the world. The French ARE the essence of the United Nations; without the French, the world is nothing and the United Nations meaningless.

lol

I am currently reading a science fiction book entitled "The Last Dancer" by Daniel Keys Moran published in 1993 which features a future United Nations controlled by the French. (It is a great book, btw. The good guys are busy plotting a rebellion against those nasty French "peacekeepers".) :-)

[blam]

"The press has been playing up the anti French feeling sweeping the nation, but have dropped the ball in covering this Central African Republic story. "

That was the Ivory Coast. They were chanting, Bush Bush!

[ErnBatavia]

(a term never heard nor muttered in France....) Neither has, "Please pass the soap,"

But one common French term is "Look! Lucky Pierre has dropped his bar of soap!"

[dufekin]

By the way, anyone have an explanation why all of the former French colonies (except Louisiana and Quebec)?

When I made this comment, I did not intend to equate Louisiana to Quèbec, nor to speak well of Quèbeçoits (sp?). Louisiana is FAR, FAR, FAR superior to Quèbec, and probably among the better states in the Union (some Freepers may differ). But consider the following list of former French colonies (of population today greater than 1 million), and you will see that Quèbec probably ranks among the nicer places to live:

Former French colonies by dates of independence

• Algeria, 1962
• Andorra, 1278
• Benin, 1960
• Burkina Faso, 1960
• Cambodia, 1953
• Cameroon, 1960
• Central African Republic, 1960
• Chad, 1960
• Comoros, 1975
• Congo, Republic of the, 1960
• Cote d'Ivoire, 1960
• Djibouti, 1977
• France, 486 [unified by Clovis]
• French Guiana, still a French colony
• French Polynesia, still a French colony
• Gabon, 1960
• Germany, 1949: French occupation zone ends
• Guadeloupe, still a French colony
• Guinea, 1958
• Haiti, 1804
• Laos, 1949
• Lebanon, 1943
• Madagascar, 1960
• Mali, 1960
• Martinique, still a French colony
• Mauritania, 1960
• Mayotte, still a French colony
• Morocco, 1956
• New Caledonia, still a French colony possible independence pending 2014 referendum
• Niger, 1960
• Reunion, still a French colony
• Saint Pierre and Miquelon, still a French colony
• Senegal, 1960
• Syria, 1946
• Togo, 1960
• Tunisia, 1956
• Vanuatu, 1980
• Vietnam, 1945
• Wallis and Futuna, still a French colony

  Not many charming places, eh? Many hotbeds of violence, genocide, totalitarianism, etc.

[dfwgator]

Excerpted from Chapter 11 of Philip Gourevitch's book, We Wish To Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families. Published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux, Inc. Copyright 1998 by Philip Gourevitch. All rights reserved.

Throughout the late '80s and early '90s, Rwanda's Hutu Power dictatorship had enjoyed the patronage of France. As a former Belgian colony, Rwanda was a French speaking country, and Paris's neo-colonial policy in Africa was to support those who spoke its language at all costs. In the early '90s, when Rwanda was plunged into civil war between the Hutu government, and the predominantly Tutsi rebel group, the Rwandese Patriotic Front, France threw its military support behind the Hutu regime. After all, the RPF came out of Uganda--where its leaders had been living in exile--and Uganda is an English speaking country. French leaders were unconcerned by their murderous Hutu Power clients. As the genocide reached its peak in the early summer of 1994, France's President François Mitterand was reported to say, "In such countries as this, genocide is not too important." Sadly, by their actions and inactions during the Rwandan slaughter, the rest of the world's great powers signaled that they agreed.

[Beck_isright]

I'm worried for those troops; there's a village there called Dien Bien Booty.