NEWS: UPDATE: Ivory Coast Situation Deteriorating, French Forces Continue Fire Into Air To Disburse

spacemonkey, the whole part before what you quoted.....i was pretty obvious was i not?

[edit on 6-11-2004 by namehere]

Fallujah cannot be compared to this French action, as the French peacekeeps have a mandate to keep the peace between the two warring factions and are required to remain impartial.

FredT, way to report the news! You may have a future in Al Jazeera TV.

Example:
Headline: US KILLS 30 MUSLIMS!
Story: 30 people loading arms into a mosque killed in US attack.

If anyone bothered to read the report, then you will see it was in RETALLIATION to the attacks previously suffered. The Frenchj hit them on the ground after the raid, and by doing so, probably avoid killing anyone in the process.

[edit on 6/11/04 by stumason]

Originally posted by spacemunkey
There are reports that the French U.N. peacekeepers have failed to remain impartial within this country between the two warring factions.

www.news.com.au...
rebel leaders have accused the peacekeepers of not doing more to stop government attacks.
story.news.yahoo.com.../ap/20041106/ap_on_re_af/ivory_coast
Many in the south resent the French troops, suspecting them of siding with rebels

When both sides report that the french fail to be impartial, then it's likely that the french are being impartial .

Originally posted by spacemunkey
Is France a suitable country to head such peacekeeping missions in a former colony??

Probably not. It seems that the colonial history of the country plays a part in the problem. It's probably harder to give proper respect to UN troops that are from a former colonizer.

yes,its obvious that the people replying to these posts , have 'bothered', to read the reports i n the news.

but isnt the whole point of the U.N. is to avoid RETALLIATION?

Originally posted by looking4clues
FredT, way to report the news! You may have a future in Al Jazeera TV.
Example:
Headline: US KILLS 30 MUSLIMS!
Story: 30 people loading arms into a mosque killed in US attack.

I almost gave you applause for the asinine post of the day.

1) The story is free of bias
2) Its sourced as well as its title from a breaking AP story.
3) The intial story was only 3 paragraf's long and has been updated since by the service

So what exactly is "Al Jazzera" about it?

UPDATE: France has deployed troops, armored vehicles and gunships to combat machete armed mobs that are going house to house looking for foreigners. French forces have seized control of the largest city, commandeering airports and posting gunboats under bridges in the commercial capital, Abidjan.

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast - France rolled out overwhelming military force Sunday to put down an explosion of anti-French violence in its former West African colony, deploying troops, armored vehicles, and helicopter gunships against machete-waving mobs that hunted house-to-house for foreigners.

Ivory Coast

Originally posted by FredT
UPDATE: France has deployed troops, armored vehicles and gunships to combat machete armed mobs that are going house to house looking for foreigners. French forces have seized control of the largest city, commandeering airports and posting gunboats under bridges in the commercial capital, Abidjan.
.........

Wow...and here I thought the French were peace loving people who would never do something like this.....

I wonder what Chirac has to say about this.....and the French citizens.... Are they demonstrating in the streets against their own government?..... Humm, let me see if I can find something on the web...

Well, couldn't find, at least yet, any citizens of France, or anywhere in Europe protesting against the French reaction....kind of ironic isn't it?...

Here is what I found on this story.

The United Nations and France have demanded that President Laurent Gbagbo end fighting in Ivory Coast after his forces killed nine French peacekeepers in a bombing raid on a rebel-held town.

France hit back by destroying most of the West African country's small air force, and the former colonial power also threatened to press for a UN Security Council arms embargo and other sanctions.

Ivorian officials said Mr Gbagbo, elected four years ago in disputed polls, was coming under pressure from France to quit.

"It's out of the question," national assembly speaker Mamadou Koulibaly said.

"We are going towards a big civil war, an uprising like we have probably never seen before in Africa. I can't see how (French President Jacques) Chirac will triumph."

Excerpted from.
www.abc.net.au...

Below is a link with a timeline of events that have happened in Ivory Coast.

news.bbc.co.uk...

The only protests that I have seen come from the people of the Ivory coast agaisnt the French reaction...the citizens of France are awfully quiet about this...


One more question....where are the protests from all the liberals/greens/libertarians and others on this issue?.... no one wants to protests that France is actually involved, and helped start, in what seems to be the biggest civil war in south Africa?....

[edit on 8-11-2004 by Muaddib]

I'm looking for the "anti-War" crowd to come storming in and condemn these bloodthirsty acts of barbarism and murder of innocent civilians. Since the U.S. isn't involved, however, I won't hold my breath.

Still, maybe someone will find a way to blame Bush for this, since he is already reputed to blight fields, poison wells, sour milk and frighten cattle.

As long as at least one member is self-delusional, there is always hope that a Bush connection will be found.

Off-topic? Yeah, I think so. So why did I do it? Bush made me.

Originally posted by Muaddib
Well, couldn't find, at least yet, any citizens of France, or anywhere in Europe protesting against the French reaction....kind of ironic isn't it?...

Two IC fighter jets and some helicopters were disabled = material damage. Two Ivorian soldiers were injured. When you consider that 8 french soldiers were killed and 23 injured I'd call the french reaction very mild one. Do you feel like protesting ? Exactly what makes it ironic ?

Originally posted by Muaddib
and helped start, in what seems to be the biggest civil war in south Africa?....

1. Factual error: Nobody was starting or helping to start civil war. It was a violation of cease-fire. (The word cease-fire alone implying that the start part had been already taken care of)

2. Factual error: The cease-fire was violated when hard-line government generals decided to start bombing rebels. The french had nothing to do with it (except get bombed to death in the process).

3. Factual error: Ivory Coast (C�te D'Ivoire) is not (even near) in south Africa. It's in West Africa: www.lib.utexas.edu... (Pre-emptive comment: lib in the URL is short for library, not for liberal-propaganda-service-who-denies-the south-africanity of Ivory coast.)

Originally posted by Majic
these bloodthirsty acts of barbarism and murder of innocent civilians. Since the U.S. isn't involved, however, I won't hold my breath.

1. There were no innocent civilians killed. According to the articles some tear gas was used. Two soldiers were injured but injured soldiers are not civilians nor murdered.

2. US is involved. Security council unanimously accepted to condemn the attacks against the french and the bloody airstrikes by the Ivory Coast government. Since I last checked, US is still a member of the security council and thus involved. But I'm not holding my breath either.


I don't think I'm going to get any response to this, I rarely do. Flaming is more fun that truth...

[edit on 8-11-2004 by vibetic]

French troops fired into the air to disperse a mob numbering in the thousands that had massed to support the Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo. The state radio urged the people to form a human shield around the Presidents home in the event that French troops move on it. The Ivory Coast is one of the worlds biggest producers of cocoa. News of the turmoil has caused a spike in cocoa prices.

ABIDJAN (Reuters) - French troops in Ivory Coast's main city of Abidjan fired into the air on Monday to disperse thousands of demonstrators massing to support the West African country's President Laurent Gbagbo.

State radio urged protesters to form a "human shield" to protect Gbagbo's home in a plush residential district in case French troops, who have taken over a hotel complex nearby, tried to move toward the residence.

"We are asking our patriots to go and join the others at the Hotel Ivoire ... We are asking for French tanks to go back to their base," firebrand pro-Gbagbo youth leader Charles Ble Goude said on state radio, shortly after the shooting.
Ivory Coast

Originally posted by FredT
The Ivory Coast is one of the worlds biggest producers of cocoa. News of the turmoil has caused a spike in cocoa prices.

....Aaahhh. It 's all coming clear. Chocolate was recently pushed as an organic way to open arteries, and prevent vasospasm and the damaging effects of vasospasm on the heart, brain and other organs. Diseases that cause vasospasm are epidemic.

Now, the price of cocoa is rising. How interesting.



.

Report of France sending 38 wounded soldiers from the continued violence in the Ivory Caost.

France flies its injured from Ivory Coast

Abidjan, Ivory Coast, Nov. 8 (UPI) -- France flew 38 of its soldiers home Monday after they were injured by rebel attacks in the northern region of the Ivory Coast, CNN reported.


The fighting began Saturday, breaking a 2003 cease-fire between the rebel-held north and government-controlled south. Nine French peacekeepers were killed

Report of France military vehicles surrounding the Ivory Coast Presidential home.

French tanks surround home of Ivory Coast president: report

ABIDJAN, IVORY COAST - French tanks took up positions around the home of Laurent Gbagbo, raising fears Ivory Coast's president may be ousted from power after the West African country's army killed nine French peacekeepers.

"Their presence here is scaring people, they're crying and they think that President Gbagbo is going to be overthrown," Tagro told the Associated Press.

Vive la imperial France......long live the French colonies.....!!

smacks of the old imperial France I think.

vibetic were you saying something?....and yes I made the mistake of saying south Africa instead of Africa.....

It was too late for me to even notice that...thanks anyways for the...help...

BTW, it wasn't me saying that the French were involved in what seems to surely becoming a great civil war in "Africa," read the article i quoted ... i was repeating in my own words what the national assembly speaker had said to emphasize my point.

[edit on 9-11-2004 by Muaddib]

Originally posted by Muaddib
vibetic were you saying something?....and yes I made the mistake of saying south Africa instead of Africa.....

It was too late for me to even notice that...thanks anyways for the...help...

BTW, it wasn't me saying that the French were involved in what seems to surely becoming a great civil war in "Africa," read the article i quoted ... i was repeating in my own words what the national assembly speaker had said to emphasize my point.

[edit on 9-11-2004 by Muaddib]

I was saying, that the french can't be starting what has been already started. And yes, my help was perhaps a bit too... I don't know a proper word for it, sorry about that .

reply to post by JacKatMtn
The link to the French tanks surrounding Gbagbo's home has been taken down...

Either way, I believe that if a demostrative portion of Ivorians want Gbagbo in office then It's over. They do not deserve war just because they will not go back into the French colonial fold where they will have their life and treasure stolen from them, more than under Gbagbo...

But which is the lesser of two evils? I think Gbagbo.