IVORY COAST BEGS U.S. TO OFFSET FRENCH PRESENCE

"We are seeking to get the US more involved in solving this crisis," said President Laurent Gbagbo's political adviser, Sarat Ottro Zirignon-Toure.

Zirignon-Toure said she will meet with US officials in the next few days, including Republican Representative Ed Royce, chairman of the House subcommittee on Africa.

"We really need an increased US engagement in our country," she said in a news conference. "The US is the only country that can be an honest broker in the current crisis."

US involvement would counterbalance former colonial power France, which has 5,000 soldiers serving in Ivory Coast alongside a similar United Nations peacekeeping mission. (12.09.04 )

Didn't see the above splashed across the front page of the NYT? Well that's probably because when reporting on poor adjunct African nations in the French suzerainty, the MSM takes its cue from France. Here's an example of MSM non-reporting on La Côte d’Ivoire:

French President Jacques Chirac has urged all sides in Ivory Coast's crisis to resume talks as he opened a summit of French-speaking countries snubbed by the Ivorian delegation.

The Ivorian delegation angrily pulled out of the summit after police in the host nation, Burkina Faso, confiscated CDs and documents from its top representative.

The summit will focus on the latest turmoil in Ivory Coast...(11.27.04 )

Whoa. Wait a minute. Côte d’Ivoire representatives pull out of a summit with an agenda dedicated to La Côte d’Ivoire? Oh, no story there. What about those "confiscated CDs"? Turns out these were DVDs. Actually a very particular DVD:

A new DVD called The Six Day War of France Against Ivory Coast is selling briskly in local markets for $10. The DVD's producer, Gome Gnohite Hilaire, says France has "worn out its welcome" in its former colonies.

"We have many people who have been killed, and I want the world to know about it," said Mr. Hilaire. "Now I'm very glad to see the impact of this movie in Cote d'Ivoire, in Africa and in the world."

Airport authorities in Burkina Faso, where a summit of French-speaking nations recently took place, confiscated a pile of these DVDs from the Ivorian delegation when it arrived, prompting it to boycott the proceedings. (11.29.04 )

Sounds like Burkina Faso was doing the snubbing. And M. Hilaire, he's probably some fanatical provocateur or crank:

Mr. Hilaire is president of the Green Cross national organisation in Cote d’Ivoire, as well as regional representative for West Africa for the American NGO Earth Island Institute, which specialises in the protection of marine mammals. Under Mr. Hilaire’s leadership, Green Cross Cote d’Ivoire has implemented the pioneering « Sacred Forests » project to save the remaining significant forests in the country and raise public awareness. Mr. Hilaure is also active in many other environment associations nationally and regionally, has published several works, played an important role in motivating African youth for the Rio Earth Summit, and is particularly focused on the links between cultural heritage, security and the environment.

Elsewhere, this curious AFP report:

FRENCH COLONEL DENIES TROOPS FIRED IN ABIDJAN

French troops did not fire on a crowd in the main Ivory Coast city Abidjan... "My men could not have done that. We did not have weapons capable of inflicting such injuries*," Colonel Patrick Destremeau, who commanded the French contingent implicated in the unrest outside the Hotel Ivoire last month, said in an interview published here in Liberation newspaper.

[* The VOA reports there were 30 French tanks deployed "Monday (scil., 12.08.04) around the city's main hotel, Hotel Ivoire, which is near the residence of President Gbagbo and the French embassy."]

The authorities in the former French west African colony have issued photographs showing at least one person who was decapitated, allegedly when the French troops shot with heavy weapons at the demonstrators.

"Had we shot into the crowd with heavy weapons, it would have been a massacre**," said Destremeau, adding that his troops had gathered up spent Kalashnikov cartridges, which proved that "people in the crowd had shot at them."

[** It seems to us with 60 dead and the wounded in the thousands that Colonel Destremeau has himself the makings of a massacre.]

Destremeau said he was available to give evidence before a commission of enquiry "for the honour of my soldiers who behaved remarkably well at the Ivoire, and because we are a democracy." (12.10.04)

The AFP has cooked its headline to suggest that Colonel Destremeau denies French troops fired on the unarmed Abidjan Ivorians. But the colonel only denies his men shot into the crowd with "heavy weapons". (This is apparent from the French: "jamais tiré au canon dans la foule".) Well, we suppose the French are to be commended for not using cannon -- or THIS -- on unarmed civilians, but they did shoot into the crowd.

Father Cesare Baldi, an Italian member of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions, said eyewitnesses reported that French troops had fired into a crowd of protesters near the airport outside Abidjan Nov. 6, leaving at least six civilians dead and perhaps many more.

"It was a slaughter. The French soldiers pointed their weapons on the crowd and opened fire," Father Baldi told the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.

If, as the colonel contends, his troops took serious fire from Kalashnikovs -- something not supported by the various videos, eyewitness accounts, or forensic evidence -- it is quite the fairy tale to believe the French troops did not return fire. If the French troops didn't fire on the crowd, then the colonel is asking us to believe the Ivorians fired on themselves.

Such fairy tales flat out contradict the emphatic testimony of Abidjan police chief Colonel Georges Guiai Bi Poin's eyewitness, which we quote again, in full, for the AFP headline skimmers:

"French troops fired directly into the crowd. They opened fire on the orders of their chief Colonel D'Estremon [sic]. Without warning."

Guiai Bi Poin said the crowd at the Hotel Ivoire was yelling insults but was unarmed.

"Not one of my men [scil., Ivorian police] fired a shot," he said. "There were no shots from the crowd. None of the demonstrators was armed - not even with sticks, or knives or rocks."

He said that when he reported to the French commander on the day of the riot, he was told: "Colonel, my barbed wire has been crossed, and the crowd is getting excited. If they do not let us leave within 20 minutes, I am going to shoot."

"Suddenly," said Guiai Bi Poin, "there was a movement on our left and my gendarmes were pushed violently by the crowd. They fell back a meter or two. D'Estremon then said to me, 'Colonel, the red line has been crossed. I am going to open fire. FIRE!'"

The officer said the French troops began shooting. "It was not a haphazard fusillade. It was carried out on the orders of their chief. And there was no warning."

Guiai Bi Poin said he yelled at the French officer to fire in the air, to aim higher, "He did this but some of his men did not obey and some continued to fire on the crowd. I saw lots of people falling, but I do not know how many victims there were." (11.28.04)

[All emphases added.]

Have you come here for forgiveness
Have you come to raise the dead
Have you come here to play Jesus
To the lepers in your head

Did I ask too much, more than a lot
You gave me nothing now it's all I got
We're one but we're not the same
Well, we hurt each other then we do it again

You say love is a temple, love a higher law
Love is a temple, love the higher law
You ask me to enter but then you make me crawl
And I can't be holding on to what you got
When all you got is hurt

One love, one blood
One life, you got to do what you should
One life, with each other
Sisters, brothers
One life, but we're not the same
We get to carry each other, carry each other
One

Sorry

I have been on a musical journey for the last couple days. Anyhow that was the song "ONE" from U2's album Achtung Baby.

I will try to fight the urge to break into song in the future.

Under the heading of 'Circulez, il n'y a rien a voir'

"...[A]ccording to the Duelfer report, former French Interior Minister turned businessman, Charles Pascua, received oil vouchers from the Hussein regime that enabled him to sell more than 10 million barrels of oil on the international market. If you enter Pascua's name in the French language version of Google News, the search engine is unable to find a single mention of Pascua's name in the French press in the last 30 days."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A63174-2004Dec14_2.html

Damian
I only here about the, spit, French, spit, shooting of civilians in the Ivory Coast in the Blogs. Are you aware if the cheese makers are getting any serious heat in the european media? I havn't seen much evidence in the American MSM. I am guessing that the French are not getting hammered over this, otherwise they would have hoisted the French national white flag of surrender and left the Ivory Coast already.
Any input you have would be appreciated.

LC Geno,

The French public is content with the sort of AFP Colonel Destremeau story examined here -- "Of the Ivorians we did not shoot, we did not kill more than 20." Though the French public perfers their news without the scrutiny. It perhaps is worth mentioning that the French are of one mind about French post-colonial suzerainty and its little adventures. They approve.

There is nothing in France comparable to American public foreign policy debate. First, because of the homogenity of opinion that passes for French news, and second, because the French polity simply does not wish to hear anything bad about the French polity. This latter remark may sound affected, but I have been a long time in arriving at it.

The last thing the French want in La Côte d’Ivoire is a stable government that's out of step with France. France is not in La Côte d’Ivoire to keep the peace. She is in La Côte d’Ivoire to ensure French interests. And at present those interests are served by reminding Mr. Gbagbo that France only tolerates abiding heads of state, elected or otherwise.

Regards,
DGB

C'est pas vrai, j'y crois pas !!!

"...[A]ccording to the Duelfer report, former French Interior Minister turned businessman, Charles Pascua, received oil vouchers from the Hussein regime that enabled him to sell more than 10 million barrels of oil on the international market. If you enter Pascua's name in the French language version of Google News, the search engine is unable to find a single mention of Pascua's name in the French press in the last 30 days."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A63174-2004Dec14_2.html

Who hell wrote that ?

1-a journalist?
2-an humorist trying to make a carricature of GW Bush ?

if (unlikely) the answer 1 is right, please brb help this hum.. OK let's tell journalist with this tip

if he can't find what he looks for with the string "Charles Pascua", he can, he SHOULD try the string "Charles Pasqua". It will change all ;D

How many brillant columnist like this have you got ? It could explain what I read too often in some blogs ;D

@+
Pierre

Pierre has a point.

Let us assume for the sake of discussion that American troops were shooting willy nilly into unarmed Baghdad crowds.
What should/would/could we Americans do about it?

Would there be a public outcry? Would there be an en mass march into the halls of Congress, closing down the Fed, in the Ukraine style?
Would such action rein in a power mad central government?
Would they order the national guard to fire into a crowd of unarm civilians in Washington?

Or would our citizenry shrug and say - "it's just Iraqis, they deserved it"?

These are the questions our French cousins need to grapple with right now.

Let us assume for the sake of discussion that American troops were shooting willy nilly into unarmed Baghdad crowds.
What should/would/could we Americans do about it?

It's indeed always constructive to compare situations, in fact it happened several times that american troops fired into unarmed crowds. Not "like this" just because they are Iraquis but simply because there is NO WAY to guess if behind the unarmed people sent in front there are some other ready to attack.
So the rule is a wartime adaptation of precaution principle: "shoot first, see after if it was necessary".
In abidjan our soldiers had mission to protect the people in this hotel, a mob of 10 000 unfriendly people is a lethal threat for the tenth persons surrounded in it even without any weapon.

So what could do our soldiers when the crowd reached the limit willing to cross it ?

Off course, load off you dear pavefrenchies, can suggest "just surrender as usual...". For any reason this solution was not available. May be they forgot to bring a white flag or may be they did not want to betray the persons they had to protect in the hotel ? Who knows ?

So as the surrender solution could not be applied, what other solution ? how could our guys do their job without using their guns ?

All realistic suggestion welcome.

Papertiger,

I strongly suggest you mail these lovely lyrics to Mr Gbagbo himself... he seems to have a very hard time understanding you don't kill people because of their ethnicity. Thanks for doing that.

Bgagbo has finally admitted that his "army" killed 9 French peacekeepers, and once again asking French citizens to return to his lovely country. He is also denying speaking to Chirac although French officials say the opposite. He probably also believe in Santa Claus.

Are you aware if the cheese makers are getting any serious heat in the european media? I havn't seen much evidence in the American MSM.

And guess why Sherlock? Not only the African Congress but even the US State Department understand Gbagbo is a fool.

All realistic suggestion welcome

Tu crois au Père Noël, Pierre? ;-)

Tu crois au Père Noël, Pierre? ;-)

Ben écoute, c'est la saison et faut bien rever un peu...
Mais là, je reconnais que le pauvre père Noël, je lui en demande beaucoup, voir carrement l'impossible.

Believing on Santa Claus about the question ending my previous post?
Indeed, I like to dream by times. but here Even Santa Claus would have hard time to bring me that...

Quand la croyance ne cause-t-elle aucun mal, pourquoi pas ? Noël de père est un bon type gai que 364 jours hors de l'année va par le papa nommé. Le papa est quelqu'un intéressant croire dedans.

I feel bad for you to have your faith in the French Gov. shaken and stretched so.

Bgagbo has finally admitted that his "army" killed 9 French peacekeepers, and once again asking French citizens to return to his lovely country.
My understanding of the incident was that Bgagbo apologised for the mistake of hitting French troops with his bombing raid. Unfortunate that France can't even bring itself to admit fault in the killing of these civilians. Much less beg pardon.

My understanding of the incident was that Bgagbo apologised for the mistake of hitting French troops with his bombing raid.

After he denied it very publically... better late than never.

Unfortunate that France can't even bring itself to admit fault in the killing of these civilians. Much less beg pardon.

"Beg pardon" for what? Destroying a few planes after Gbagbo's goons killed 9 French peacekeepers and an American inciting crowds to taunt security forces and rape women and lying about it? Should Bgagbo "beg pardon" for the African people he massacred intentionally?
Say hello to Santa Claus for me when you see him, Papertiger.

so now it's an American at fault for French troops massacreing un armed civilians?
As I said before, unfortunate that France can not even admit fault.
I wouldn't do any protesting if I were you Zoomer. In France they can shoot you for that.
Best to keep your head ducked, coward.

so now it's an American at fault for French troops massacreing un armed civilians?

Unarmed? You're an utter joke.

As I said before, unfortunate that France can not even admit fault.

Nope. Do you remotely have a clue of the chain of events? Don't bother.

I wouldn't do any protesting if I were you Zoomer. In France they can shoot you for that.

Whatever, Tiggy.

Best to keep your head ducked, coward.

Ask your friend Bgagbo what he thinks about that, asshole.

Completely pointless post, Tiggy. Nobody's protesting France's actions by the way, except you and your ethnic-cleanser, peace-breaking dellusional African friend.

Sisters, brothers
One life, but we're not the same
We get to carry each other, carry each other

Is this adressed to "president" Bgagbo as well?

What an utter moron you are.

Sisters, brothers,
One life, but we're not the same
We get to carry each other,
carry each other

Freaking genious.

And one last thing:

Considering the row between France and Israel over Sharon's recent comments, you would think Israel would have every reason to ignore a formal request from "anti-semitic France" to stop arming a bloody tyran, wouldn't you?

I feel your pain.

But at least we didn't put panties on their heads...

It is good to know that the fine upstanding frog soldiers are much more morally upright compared to us savage 'Mericans.

U.N. worker caught in DR Congo sex scandal

Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo, Dec. 23 (UPI) -- A French United Nations aid worker in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been arrested for manufacturing pornographic videotapes of young girls.

...

Acting on a tip, police set up a sting operation using a 12-year-old girl as bait. When they raided his home, they discovered he had turned his bedroom into a studio for videotaping and photographing sex sessions with young girls.

But at least frogs are too civilized to put panties on their captive's heads. Pedophilia is more their thing.

Now Idiot before you get your panties in a bunch screeching how this is just *ONE* frog, Abu Ghraib was a few bad apples from the US Armed Forces. I expect the same level of condemnation coming from you over this that you ranted against US forces.

Did you hear the one about the US soldier who was just tried, who had sex with an iraki boy and then shot him? Well, it's true too. We have our scumbags, you have yours.

Yep Idiot, except you use your examples to indict the entire US Armed Forces. Just holding your fine upstanding boy scouts er armed forces (I would hate to insult the Boy Scouts by comparing them to Frogs) as you hold 'Merican forces. Oh but it's different when it's your own right?