| Submit your comments on this article |
| East/Subsaharan Africa |
| Ivory Coast leader appeals for calm |
| 2003-01-26 |
| Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo has appealed for calm after protests erupted over a deal to end the four-month civil war. Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets in the main city of Abidjan, accusing the French of imposing the agreement on its former colony. "Yeah! We ain't hardly got started yet!" He said he would return home on Sunday from a peace summit in Paris, where French President Jacques Chirac has also urged Mr Gbagbo to take control of the situation. Many among Mr Gbagbo's power base in southern Ivory Coast were outraged by the deal - which brings rebel groups from the north and west into a new government of national unity. Protesters put up barricades on some main roads and set fire to the fence around the French embassy. French soldiers are also reported to have fired stun grenades to disperse the crowds. "Cheeze! Mbago's really stunned by that grenade!" "Yeah. Tore most of his head off, didn't it?" A French school in the city was reportedly ransacked, while protesters targeted a military base outside the city and cars which they suspected were carrying French nationals. "Damn Frenchies, interferin' in our internal The BBC's Tom McKinley in Abidjan says that there has been some sporadic gunfire. "No, you won't, suckers!" |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |
| #1 As far as I can tell, we don't have a dog in the fight. I have a figurative large popcorn and box of Milk Duds. I'm leaning toward the Frenchies, myself, but that's only because I'm an admirer of the Legion and think the world has more than enough Charles Taylors or Prince Johnsons. If a turban shows up, I'll holler "boo!" and throw popcorn at the screen, but other than that, they're on their own. |
| Posted by: Fred 2003-01-26 16:22:25 |