so why should they be any different from the rest of the world??? except iran and north korea of course...
Posted on 11/12/2004 8:00:34 AM PST by Ginifer
Some 1600 French people arrived at Roissy-Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris with tales of fear and horror after days of anti-French attacks in the Ivory Coast.
Most of the evacuees had left behind their homes and their livelihoods, often after many years in Africa.
Helene, who lived for 32 years in Abidjan running a printing business, told French radio: "We spent five hours on the roof, listening to them taking our apartment to pieces and then breaking everything they couldn't remove. Our life is there; we have nothing in France. The radio was screaming at everyone to rid themselves of the 'imperialist pigs', the 'Satans'."
"There is so much hatred in their faces. Why? We have many, many Ivorian friends. Why so much anti-French hatred?"
At least four people were taken to hospital on arrival, and psychologists waited to offer help if needed.
Christophe Larouille, from Angers, said: "We've been through 'hunt the white man'.
"I was lucky; the helicopter landed almost on my lawn, in the middle of the night. AdvertisementAdvertisement
"There was a knock on my door, and a voice said, 'You've got three seconds to make your mind up.' I took off sitting on a pile of ammunition, like in a film. I saw someone who had lost an eye. The soldiers said there were deaths, people had been decapitated, women had been raped."
Jose, a 67-year-old administrator, emerged into the arrivals hall bringing with him just the clothes he was wearing: "A pair of espadrilles, a pair of shorts, two T-shirts and a briefcase that my neighbours managed to rescue by some miracle," he said.
He told Le Monde: "I was attacked twice over the weekend. The first time I managed to talk them out of it, helped with money and a bottle of whisky. When they came back I took refuge in the home of some African friends. My house was looted and completely sacked. They turned up with trucks. There's not a needle left."
A French official said between 4000 and 8000 of its 14,000 citizens wanted to leave, a number that would make it one of the largest evacuations of Africa's post-independence era.
There is more to it than meets the eye. The French have been in Ivory Coast since independence, it has been for the French almost a second homeland, and it has been one of the most prosperous countries in Africa. There has not been this kind of violence until now.
What seems to have happened is the following: other posters can clarify if they know further details.
There was a civil war. As you say, it seems to be muslims versus non-muslims from what I gather. The French intervened initially to protect the country from the rebels, but in numbers to small to be effective. So, rather than confront the rebels aggressively they struck a deal with them and began to exert pressure on the elected government of Ivory Coast, forcing them to give in, which is what has caused the enormous resentment against the French.
The French, as a consequence, are now seen not as "peacekeepers" or defenders of the Ivorians but rather as being in league with the rebels. French "evenhandedness" has forced the Ivorians to give ground to the rebels that they had not won on the battlefield. As a consequence, the Ivorians are furious with France, and it is taking out its resentments against Frenchmen in the country who have lived there, some of them, all of their lives.
It is typical Chirac.
How can this happen? I thought france already surrendered. "f" in france intentional.
so why should they be any different from the rest of the world??? except iran and north korea of course...
And why should it be any different there?
The French are hated because they've forced the democratically elected government of the Ivory Coast to accept a "Unity Government" with a rebel group that has ties to international terrorism.
Thanks brown.
That's pretty much it, in a nutshell.
Affirmative action, gun control, and "diversity". Sounds like a blue state to me.
This is true. In fact it's a bit of an understatement. The French military assaulted the existing government forces and imposed the violent islamofascists representation on the Ivoirians.
And a few short months later, Chirac was trying to pave the way for Robert Mugabe to participate in international conferences in Africa although he'd been barred for human rights violations. Both whites and landless blacks are being slaughtered and they were fleeing to friendly Central African Republic. Which France invaded in March 2003 during the week of the Iraq invasion to force a brutal islamofascist regime there.
Over the past 36 years, France has invaded Africa 35 times. Never with the notification or consent of the UN and often without the consent of the country they've invaded. Lately, Chirac is looking to conduct military sales as he tanked his own economy and guess who's buying?
I think this goes back earlier than anyone will talk about. After Saddam Hussein was defeated in the Gulf War, he gave an interview in which he blasted the French as he had paid them money to keep the UN out of his way. I guess there was a meeting because in 1994, France elected to side with the islamofascists in Rwanda and commit genocide against the peaceful Tutsis.
I think Chirac thinks this is a good oil strategy. Note to Chirac -- most of the oil is outside of muslim countries.
Thanks.
Specifically, the government was peaceful and Christian and the rebels were violent and Muslim. Daily seizures, assaults and attacks were taking place and everyone cheered when the French military went to rescue the schoolchildren held hostage.
Then the French promised the rebels the leadership of the Departments of Defense and Interior for peace and did not engage the current government in the discussion. The current government said, this is unacceptable, how can we live in fear with these people controlling all weaponry? And the French said, too bad, deal with it.
Then the fighting was worse because the rebels believed that the French had the power to fulfill the promise and the government of the Ivory Coast would not give in.
So it's thanks to the lack of humanity of the French that the Ivory Coast is in trouble today. Which surprises only the French.
See post 91.
No, I mean like Christians and Jews are being hated by the Muslims. It does not really matter whether they are French or American.
“France, where's your coalition?”
Maybe the UN should write 17 resolutions and waste 12 yrs trying to figure out how to help the French.
Or the French could ask the United States to send in some Marines to save the day. I’m sure President Bush would be quick to help his good friend Chirac and America’s favorite ally. /Sarcasm intended
NO BLOOD FOR COCOA! People are starving in Africa, while EU farms use the best land and all the water to grow Cocoa and Peanuts for European commercial farms. These products are then exported out of the country and the profits returned to Europe. And then they act surprised when the people say they hate the French.
Holtz
JeffersonRepublic.com
Perhaps the French are on the verge of a 21st
century Dien Bien Phu.
One can only hope.
MV
The tragedy of the Kofi-Chirac Doctrine, before our very eyes. It's only a matter of time before the Red Crescent is placed on the French Flag, with or without the consent of the citizens.
Still worse, there is a disease affecting the cocoa plants and the French have failed to invest to find the cure to save cocoa.
Same is true of bananas.
Since the French think they are the world.
As if that explains rape and luting.
You sound here almost like the mainstream media: hatred is caused by actions. Sort of like, "What did we, Americans, do to deserve the hatred of Muslims?" This is garbage that goes all the way to Marx.
The fact is, social groups are hated not for what they do but for who they are. The French and the British in Africa are a convenient minority on which to vent frustrations. They are identifiable by the color of their skin ("they are not like us"), which is racism. The same occurred for centuries in Europe with respect to Jews and Roma (Gypsies): when times are good, nobody really cared about their presence ("They are nice people; some of my friends are Jews"), but at the slightest upheaval, whether economic or political, they because the scapegoats. We call that by its name: religious bigotry.
Well, the same is happening with the French and Brits in Africa. And we should call it by its name: racism. These people are chosen as victims because they are white. And please forget that Leftist garbage about colonies: two generations have grown up since then, and these whites and blacks played with each other as children.
This not really hard to see. But the victims happen to be French, and so this forum is enjoying that fact. Nice and moral. Very pleasant to see on a conservative forum: shadenfreude is exactly the value that these people are trying to preserve in America.
Specifically, the government was peaceful and Christian and the rebels were violent and Muslim. Daily seizures, assaults and attacks were taking place and everyone cheered when the French military went to rescue the schoolchildren held hostage.Thank you for putting this situation into perspective. Again the French is playing the appeaser with the Muslims, while Christians are supposed to lie down and die without a fight.Then the French promised the rebels the leadership of the Departments of Defense and Interior for peace and did not engage the current government in the discussion. The current government said, this is unacceptable, how can we live in fear with these people controlling all weaponry? And the French said, too bad, deal with it.
Apparently not....
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.