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Africa: Subsaharan
Rebels, Opposition Quit Ivory Coast Gov't
2004-03-26
ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (AP) - Rebels and the main opposition party pulled out of Ivory Coast's power-sharing government Thursday after 25 people died in deadly clashes between security forces and opposition supporters, who marched in defiance of a government ban.

The street skirmishes were the bloodiest to hit this West African nation's commercial capital since a failed September 2002 coup bid split the country in two. Among the dead were two police and 12 civilians killed by protesters armed with machetes, Abidjan Police Chief Yapo Kouassi told reporters. Security forces struggling to maintain order shot dead several others, he said, giving no details.
They're dead, right? What details do we need?
Amid the violence, Air France suspended flights to the country, and the French Foreign Ministry called on all parties not to kill any French to show restraint. There are about 4,000 French soldiers in the Ivory Coast not doing their jobs at the moment.

The events dealt a serious blow to the January 2003 peace deal brokered by France that established a power-sharing government. "We have suspended our participation in the government to protest against today's killings," rebel spokesman Alain Lobognon said. Rebel forces in the north were put "on alert," he added without elaborating.
Orange or red?
Bacongo Cisse, spokesman for the main opposition Rally of the Republicans, said his party also would suspend its participation to protest the violence. The opposition Democratic Party of Ivory Coast pulled out of the government March 4, saying President Laurent Gbagbo was not fully implementing the accord. The same complaints were behind Thursday's march.

Integration Minister Mel Theodore blamed the opposition for the violence. "In insisting on their wish to demonstrate, they are trying to create troubles for the government, which is at the stage where it wants reconciliation," he said.
"And we'll shoot the first sob who won't agree to reconcile!"
Posted by:Steve White

#2  once again, a failed French military campaign, resulting in misery and death, goes intentionally unnoticed by the media.

Hey! Al Guardian! At one point in time you guys stood for something besides being shills for The Man.
Posted by: B   2004-03-26 7:20:09 AM  

#1  Damn, I wanted to Frisk this story...sob. Oh well, the CNN story was a little more graphic, wit great phrases, such as:

"very many people were wounded by bullets." and, "It's deplorable; the Ivorian army must stop shooting at the population," rebel chief Cherif Ousmane said from his stronghold in the northern town of Bouake. "If they don't stop, we're going to suspend all negotiations at every level."

Be that as it may, it is to be noted that the rebels of the north are Muslim, and much like Kosovo, the French are enabling an ethnic cleansing of the Christian and Animist southern portions of the Ivory Coast.

The United States, IMHO, should have actively armed the Government, and it was elected before French intervention, against the Rebels of the North...and let the killing commence.

Posted by: Traveller   2004-03-26 6:47:59 AM  

00:00