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Africa: Subsaharan
"THEY HATE US!" say fleeing French (no blood for cocoa!)
2004-11-12
Sydney Morning-Herald (registration required, also posted at Free Republic)
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.
Ivory Coast is now officially a red state.
Most of the evacuees had left behind their homes and their livelihoods, often after many years of condescension and exploitation 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'."
Who would have thought that Rantburg had so many readers in Ivory Coast?
"There is so much hatred in their faces. Why? We have many, many Jewish Ivorian friends. Why so much anti-French hatred?"
It's America's fault, all those soap and toothepaste ads have had an effect on the locals.
Posted by:Atomic Conspiracy

#15  Not quite that simple, AC. CdI had a legacy of lax and unspecific immigration rules, and was content to let folks from neighboring countries come and work and even settle, and even vote, without getting too picky about it. [Hmm. Sounds vaguely familiar...] When the grand old man died, his successor Bedie tried to put together a power base by focussing on "Ivorianism" and deprecating the northern immigrants. Guei [what a name] staged a coup, continued the rather devisive approach to the north,and was killed during a general uprising. Both Guei and Gbagbo prevented the north's favorite son, Ouattara, from running for president because he had foreign parents. I don't know exactly when foreign influence started to becoming important, but I'd guess shortly before Ouattara called for new elections (and many of his supporters were killed). Then you have the rebellion of the to-be-demobilized soldiers in 2002 that produced the current mess. And as best I can remember, the govt. wasn't winning, or losing; the fighting was pretty much a stalemate, with even some Liberians looking for a peice of the action in the west.
I don't believe the rebellion didn't have foreign backing, nor am I rooting for the rebels in any way. But the Bedie/Gbagbo policy of demonizing the northern/partly-foreign tribes was bound to cause trouble, and did. To be fair, insofar as Ouattara represented the interests of northerners in his campaigns, he contributed to the polarization.
I don't get much news out of the north, so I don't know how much of a foothold the Islamofacists have there. Sooner or later they always show up.
Posted by: James   2004-11-12 3:40:19 PM  

#14  I agree with DPA. This starts with the French but it won’t end there. Another failed state in the making.
Posted by: Anonymous5032   2004-11-12 3:31:55 PM  

#13  They come pre-humiliated, you know.
Posted by: someone   2004-11-12 2:24:27 PM  

#12  AC, I hope you're right... but I'm pretty sure I am.
Posted by: Damn_Proud_American   2004-11-12 1:26:42 PM  

#11  Um, shouldn't that headline be They Ate Us?

Atomic is correct. Enjoy the humbling of France. They brought it on themselves.

Though Chirac once said "You can kill French soldiers, you can wound them, but you cannot humiliate them!..." From the International Herald Tribune
Posted by: Chuck Simmins   2004-11-12 1:25:55 PM  

#10  This is not, and will not be, another Zimbabwe, DPA. The proximate cause of this anti-French outburst was a rebellion by Islamo-fascists in the northern part of the country. The government was winning until French "peacekeepers" intervened to impose a settlement that favored the Islamos. This was done in the name of "stability" ie to protect French business interests and NGO activity, and of course to win a few dhimmi points from the ummah.
Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy   2004-11-12 1:07:56 PM  

#9  You are probably right,DPA.But for now just enjoy the momment,it's the little pleasures that make life worth living.
Posted by: raptor   2004-11-12 12:57:17 PM  

#8  DPA, It's looking like all Africa is reverting to its pre-colonial existance. I'd not be surprised to see a big and bloody Christian-Muslim conflict there for decades. And there's just not a lot to be done about it, except at the UN. So if all we can get is a few chuckles at the expense of France, well, c'est la guerre.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis   2004-11-12 12:46:58 PM  

#7  I hate you too.
Posted by: BH   2004-11-12 12:40:27 PM  

#6  I think you guys are taking too much joy in that it's French people being harrased. There is a larger problem here in that it's looking like the Ivory Coast is about to become another Zimbabwe... and I promise they won't be a "red state", they'll be very anti-american.
Posted by: Damn_Proud_American   2004-11-12 12:39:08 PM  

#5  maybe they'll repair the De Gaulle to the point that it is capable of heading towards Ivory Coast...wouldn't make it, but at least an effort?
Posted by: Frank G   2004-11-12 12:32:49 PM  

#4  I'm feeling schadenfreude to the max here.
Posted by: Matt   2004-11-12 12:26:35 PM  

#3  You're still basically a colonial if you have a helicopter that makes house calls.
Posted by: Tom   2004-11-12 12:19:00 PM  

#2  "They hate us!"

Ya' think?

Maybe you should ask yourselves why.

Just sayin', 's all. :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut   2004-11-12 12:17:24 PM  

#1  They aren't alone.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis   2004-11-12 12:08:57 PM  

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