Government warplanes bombed the largest city in Ivory Coast's rebel-held north twice on Thursday in what a government military commander said was the launch of a new offensive to reunite the war-divided nation. The raids - at sunrise and in the afternoon - threatened to reopen Ivory Coast's civil war, ended by a 2003 peace deal after nine months of fighting.
| I think by general agreement, once the bombing starts the festivities are considered open... |
The sunrise bombing run seriously injured 25 civilians in this insurgent stronghold, rebels said. There were no details of casualties from the second raid. "We are going to reconquer our territory, and reunify Ivory Coast," Col. Phillipe Mangou, a government military chief for operations, told The Associated Press by telephone. "We've just been bombed. The war has started again," rebel military commander Cherif Ousmane told the AP in the rebel stronghold of Boauke. | Well, at least they both agree on something. |
The raid at sunrise by two Russian-made Sukhoi jets targeted a rebel military camp in Bouake. An AP reporter in Bouake saw the aircraft fly in low over the town. A boom followed, and a plume of black smoke rose. The morning bombardment woke residents, who stayed indoors with shops closed. Rebels deployed in force across the city afterward, and many with their faces covered by hoods erected checkpoints.
In Abidjan, the government-held commercial capital in the south, about 2,000 loyalists marched on army headquarters to demand a full-scale offensive to retake the north. The government's military spokesman, Lt. Col. Jules Yao Yao, said the government would issue a statement later. A French military spokesman, Col. Henry Aussavy, confirmed the bombing, saying the target was a rebel military battalion headquarters within Bouake. "It seems to be a limited action," Aussavy said, about three hours after the bombing.
| Y'see, if the Frenchies hadn't confirmed it, it wouldn't have been official... |
Ivory Coast, the world's top cocoa producer and a former economic powerhouse of West Africa, has been divided since a September 2002 coup attempt launched months of civil war. A 2003 peace deal, brokered under pressure from former colonial ruler France and others, ended major fighting. A power-sharing deal failed to take hold, however, and distrust and ethnic, regional and political hatreds continue to run strong. | Another French success story. |
Last week, rebel political leader Guillaume "George" Soro accused the government of massing troops near rebel positions in the west and warning the country's long-stagnant war could resume soon. Soro also imposed a 9 p.m.-to-6 a.m. curfew in the north and called on eight rebel ministers in Abidjan to leave their posts and head to Bouake. |