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IOL: Military camp attacked in Ivory Coast
January 02 2006
A major military base to the west of Ivory Coast's economic capital Abidjan came under attack early on Monday, military sources said. "We are under heavy fire," said the commander at the camp, Lieutenat-Colonel Julien Kouame, without giving further details.
Shortly after 6am (06h00 GMT) heavy weapons could be heard firing in the vicinity of the base.
IOL: Situation at Ivory Coast base 'under control'
January 02 2006
An armed attack early on Monday against a major military base to the west of Ivory Coast's economic capital Abidjan has been repulsed by government forces, the army chief-of-staff said. "The situation is under control - our forces are in the process of securing the new camp and the old camp," General Philippe Mangou said on public radio and television, referring to two adjacent sites that came under mortar fire by unknown forces.
The attack on an infantry battalion based at one of the camps was contained within hours, a military source said, adding that assailants had been killed. But the arsenal of the camp was still under the control of the assailants
Heavily armed reinforcements were seen arriving in tanks and all-terrain vehicles at the Akouedo camp later Monday morning, while sources said light gunfire was continuing sporadically.
AllAfrica.com: New Attacks on Military Camps in Abidjan
January 2, 2006
Attacks on two military camps in Abidjan left several people dead on Monday, just days after the formation of a new unity government in Cote d'Ivoire had restored hope of a peaceful end to the three-year crisis dividing the nation.
Mutinous soldiers from the Ivorian army claimed responsibility for the attack, demanding 900,000 CFA francs each (US $1,800) in unpaid wages and war bonuses, according to a spokesman who gave his name only as Commander Albert. "We're Ivorian soldiers, we're not rebels, and we want to get paid," he told IRIN.
eyewitnesses told IRIN that the bodies of at least 10 people, some of them stripped naked, had been lying at the destroyed entrance gate and in the courtyard of the new Akuedo camp before being hauled away in army trucks.
AllAfrica.com: Cote d'Ivoire: Annan Wants More Peacekeepers On Ground
January 5, 2006
The UN peacekeeping force in Cote d'Ivoire is overstretched and needs thousands of reinforcements as long-delayed elections near, and there remains "the possibility that another major violent crisis might occur", Secretary-General Kofi Annan said.
The latest request for more peacekeepers for Cote d'Ivoire became public in the same week that unidentified gunmen attacked two military camps on the north-eastern edge of the de facto capital, Abidjan.
Originally posted by DYepes
What kind of resources are there in the Ivory coast? Ivory no doubt?
Originally posted by DYepes
What kind of resources are there in the Ivory coast? Ivory no doubt? Precious metals and gems? Someone has a big interest in it if the UN is willing to put up such a fight.
Originally posted by Nygdan
Annan is probably particularly interested in it because he's African, so its something of a patriotic issue no doubt.
Armes Trade in BIG Buseniss
USA, Russia, France and Britain do the largest businesses of arms trade in the world. Sometimes, these arms sales are made secretly and sometimes knowingly to human rights violators, military dictatorships and corrupt governments. This does not promote democracy in those nations.
Originally posted by Souljah
You Want to know why the International Community does not do SOMETHING, to help those in Africa?
Armes Trade in BIG Buseniss
USA, Russia, France and Britain do the largest businesses of arms trade in the world. Sometimes, these arms sales are made secretly and sometimes knowingly to human rights violators, military dictatorships and corrupt governments. This does not promote democracy in those nations.
They do not want to loose all the Business Partners down in Africa!
[edit on 8/1/06 by Souljah]
Stumason
I think you're off base in painting the whole continent with a single brush. There are African nations with stable, effective governance, food surplus, and no civil war problems (Senegal, Cameroon, Mauritius, etc.). There are parts of Africa that are Hell on earth, in terms of disease, famine, rape, murder, child soldiers, the works, but that's not the case for ALL of Africa.
While all that's going on, thousands of children are starving to death every day, and not just in Africa. Totally preventable tragedy, day in, day out, perfectly acceptable to the modern western conscience. We don't even give it a second thought usually, thinking detracts from our daily consumption/condemnation routine.
Originally posted by stumason
How long are we going to be blamed for something that took place years ago? We left Africa with a significant infrastruture (see Kenyan Railways and look how it is now)and working Government, it is they themselves that broke it, not us.
Conflicts in Africa
The artificial boundaries created by colonial rulers as they ruled and finally left Africa had the effect of bringing together many different ethnic people within a nation that did not reflect, nor have (in such a short period of time) the ability to accommodate or provide for, the cultural and ethnic diversity. The freedom from imperial powers was, and is still, not a smooth transition. The natural struggle to rebuild is proving difficult.
Blame the Victim
It is undeniable that there has been poor governance, corruption and mismanagement in Africa. However, the briefing reveals the context — the legacy of colonialism, the support of the G8 for repressive regimes in the Cold War, the creation of the debt trap, the massive failure of Structural Adjustment Programmes imposed by the IMF and World Bank and the deeply unfair rules on international trade. The role of the G8 in creating the conditions for Africa's crisis cannot be denied. Its overriding responsibility must be to put its own house in order, and to end the unjust policies that are inhibiting Africa's development.
Yeah, I know ... It just pisses me off royally when we see on the news every day about Rebellions and massacres etc etc...
There is just no need for it and for those people involved they are hardly helping themselves whilst at the same time blaming the West in it's entirety for the problem. We do bear some responsibility, but it's the same as the Black Slave trade argument...
Acknowledged though are the countries that do seem to be getting it together, but even then, some of their methods are questionable. Zimbabwe, for example, used to be the breadbasket of Africa, but since the completely insane land reforms took place, they are now starving.
Originally posted by SwearBear
Africa is not one country you know.
. You get dozens of half-baked rebel groups calling themselevs "Democratic Freedom Fighters" this or "Peoples liberation" that, but in the end
this, but it seems as if the only difference between the savages of pre-colonial times and those that live there now are they just have guns instead of spears
tribe from the next valley because they stole a cow back in 1831 is not the way to go about things.....
or would it not be better business practice to invest and increase the GDP of said country,
How long are we going to be blamed for something that took place years ago? We left Africa with a significant infrastruture (see Kenyan Railways and look how it is now)and working Government, it is they themselves that broke it, not us.
If you did not Notice, European Colonialism had a DEVASTATING effect on Africa and its People.
Originally posted by davenman
When we were about to invade Iraq in 2002, I screamed that just a couple thousand troops could help in The Ivory Coast. I posted in a few boards, but not here. It all fell on deaf ears. There must be some sort of political gain for the U.S. to consider their problem. It's sad that we are that way.
Originally posted by Nygdan
Unfortunately, no one cares. There are constant revolutions in africa, armies made up of children, not teenagers, but children. Genocide is happening there today, and I don't mean 'in the modern era', I mean to-day. But no one cares. Everyone cried after rwanda and made movies about it. Maybe in a decade there'll be a movie about the Darfur, but really, whats it matter, no one cares, no one's ever going to do anything.
Case in point, the Secretary General of the UN, an organization who's major purpose is to prevent war and devastation in the first place, is an african, and still, nothing happens, he won't even call the genocide in the sudan as such, because it would require action.
Think about that. All Annan has to do is make a speech to the assembly talking about the genocide in the sudan, and the assembly will be required by its bylaws, which are international laws, to act. And nothing happens, because no one cares.
News24.com: Riots break out in I Coast
17/01/2006
Hundreds of angry demonstrators erected roadblocks across Ivory Coast's main city and destroyed UN vehicles to protest a decision by an international group mediating in the civil war-divided country.
Up to 2 000 protesters took to the streets of government-held Abidjan on Monday after UN-backed mediators said over the weekend that the West African nation's parliament should be dissolved since its mandate expired last month.
"This is just the beginning of many demonstrations to tell the international community to go home. We want to fix this crisis among us Ivorians," said Serge Koffi, leader of a youth group often involved in Abidjan's violent protests. Rioters destroyed five UN vehicles, burning one to cinders, said the UN.
Ten thousand UN and French peacekeepers are providing security in Ivory Coast
IOL: Enough is enough, say Ivory Coast protesters
January 16 2006
Hundreds of youths, some brandishing machetes and sticks, burned tyres and blocked roads in Ivory Coast's main city Abidjan on Monday in protest against a call by foreign mediators for parliament to be dissolved.
Several hundred youths loyal to President Laurent Gbagbo walked towards the city's business district chanting "enough is enough" and burning tyres blocked main streets in other areas. Police fired teargas to repel one group of protesters.
Witnesses said some of the protesters were planning to head to the headquarters of the country's UN mission, which is a short distance from the city centre.
Cote D Ivoire: Anti-UN Protests Snag Abidjan for Second Day (allAfrica.com)
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks
January 17, 2006
Cote d'Ivoire's frail peace process came under fire on Tuesday as protests by pro-government youth targeting the UN peacekeeping mission went into a second day and the ruling party threatened to pull out of peace efforts.
"We are tired of foreign intervention," a girl sporting a T-shirt with the national colours of Cote d'Ivoire told IRIN at a barricade as she opened the trunks of passing cars to check what was inside. "We are tired of neo-colonial attitudes."
In the western town of Guiglo, an estimated 1,000 people invaded a UN military base held by Bangladeshi troops. "They are in the base but so far they are just dancing and chanting," a UN official told IRIN. "They demanded we take the UN flag down, though." The UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, expressed concern and called for an immediate end to continuing disturbances in Cote d'Ivoire condemning the "orchestrated violence directed against the UN".