Posted on 02/05/2003 4:53:39 PM PST by MadIvan
France began reinforcing its garrison in Ivory Coast yesterday as thousands of workers took to the streets of Abidjan, the commercial capital, in a protest against a Paris-brokered peace deal.
About 600 extra French troops were on their way, mainly to protect the 16,000 expatriates living in Abidjan after a wave of anti-French riots.
The violence was triggered by a peace deal brokered by Paris which Christian southerners see as a sell-out to the rebel groups whose forces control most key towns in the north.
Angry demonstrators again gathered around the French embassy in Abidjan amid a sea of orange, white and green national colours.
Heavily armed troops guarded the imposing buildings of the former colonial power as the protesters shouted, chanted and sang: "Ivory Coast for the Ivorians. We are xenophobes and so what."
France has urged "non-essential" expatriates to leave the country. President Laurent Gbagbo travelled to Ghana last night to attend a meeting of the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas), which is attempting to mediate in the conflict.
Mr Gbagbo was said to have been so alarmed by the reaction to the Paris treaty on the streets of Abidjan that he was "seriously reconsidering" his agreement to its terms. Under the agreement, pro-rebel politicians are to be given key posts in a still-theoretical "government of national unity", including the defence and interior portfolios.
Ecowas has deployed its own force of several hundred, mainly Senegalese, troops to Ivory Coast in a peacekeeping role. They will come under the command of the French force which, with the new arrivals, will number more than 3,000 by the weekend. The French and West African troops have been given a mandate by the United Nations Security Council to use "all necessary measures" to enforce the ceasefire.
The rebel factions are due to meet today at their headquarters in Bouake, 220 miles north of Abidjan, to decide how long they will give Mr Gbagbo to implement the accord. "Either the international community can bring Gbagbo to respect the accord or its forces must quit the front line and let us advance on Abidjan," said Guillaume Soro, leader of the Patriotic Movement of Ivory Coast, the largest of the three main rebel groups in the north. Another rebel commander, Cherif Ousmane, said: "The longer this goes on, the more complicated things are getting for Gbagbo. Now we want to squeeze him like an orange."
Fighting erupted in Ivory Coast last September after a coup attempt. Hundreds of people have died and the chaos in the country has fuelled the three-year-old civil war in neighbouring Liberia. There, rebel forces attempting to overthrow the government of President Charles Taylor are reported to be advancing on Monrovia, the capital.
I don't recall France getting permission from the UN for this deployment, do you?
Regards, Ivan
Don’t tell me the French are acting…(gasp) unilaterally!
I know GWB doesn't resort to petty in-your-face responses, but how about an emergency meeting of the [in]security council to demand inspectors and a vote before the French take action?
Champaigne .... that's about it.
Well, the only part of their cuisine that is good is crepe.
I suppose this will keep Charles Taylor busy, and distract him from aiding the Muslim rebels in the Ivory Coast.
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.