Gbagbo aide says French forces detained Gbagbo

Reuters ^ | 04-11-2011 | Gerard Bon

[freedomwarrior998]

(Reuters) - French special forces have detained Ivory Coast's Laurent Gbagbo and handed him to leaders of the rebel opposition, after French tanks forced their way into his residence, a Gbagbo adviser in France said.

[Former Proud Canadian]

Gbagbo is in the bag.

or

Gbagbo is bagged.

[allmost]

The hundreds of rapes and murders by the opposition muslims are ‘okay’ with the french. Let's go pick on somebody.

[nuconvert]

“handed him to leaders of the rebel opposition”

That’s not good.
What is Sarkozy going to do if Gbagbo ends up dead?

[stormer]

Good. Maybe Pat Robertson can bail him out.

[Pan_Yan]

Replacing a bad ruler with a U.N. hand picked Muslim ruler, and doing it with foreign troops. Ah, democracy in action.

[Truth29]

Sarkozy has got the Obama disease. Maybe they can share a cell somewhere in the future.

[muawiyah]

but what a residence

[dalebert]

am i missing something...the un is nation building with a fail score of 100% ?

[Malesherbes]

This is a fight between Christians and Moslems for control of the country. Sarkozy has chosen the side of the Moslems who have already slaughtered Christians - the way of Islam. More Christian deaths will follow, including Gbagbo.

[Pan_Yan]

I actually think it is significant that in the last few weeks the U.N. troops have taken an active, aggressive role in Côte d'Ivoire. Normally the U.N. troops are passive to the point of meaningless. If an international quasi government body is successfully enacting regime change then no one should sleep well at night.

[cripplecreek]

Gbagbo Baggins?

[ScaniaBoy]

Sarkozy has got the Obama disease. Maybe they can share a cell somewhere in the future.

Remember that at the moment Sarkozy is battling for something really, really important. Liberty, peace, the rule of Law??

No, however important those issues may be for the peons, they all pale in comparison. We are talking about Sarkozy's political survival. Therefore no holds will be barred.

And since he has been unable to win over Ghadaffi, well then Gbagbo would have to do.

Will Gbago get a fair trial? Very unlikely. This is Africa, you know. Will the French, or the UN, or the rest of the Euroweenies care? No, of course not. It is not as if the US Army or the IDF would have put panties on the head of a terrorist.

[nuconvert]

I don’t think Sarkozy is going to fare too well if Gbagbo ends up being hacked to death by a machete weilding mob.
I think turning Gbagbo over to the opposition is a big mistake.

[izzatzo]

“...if Gbagbo ends up dead?”

Just a matter of time, these Africans don’t mess around with perceived enemies.

[nuconvert]

I don’t know how much of a christian Gbagbo is. He’s no saint. Basically, it’s trading a so-called catholic dictator for a muslim dictator. So, I guess the catholic dictator is a little better.

[ScaniaBoy]

Maybe such an event would create more public disapproval than burning of tens of villages, mass rape and killing of hundreds of civilians, but I doubt it very much.

This is how the EU, the UN and others react to the ongoing massacres:

Ivory coast report complicates EU support for Ouattara

Quotes:
"Forces loyal to Ivory Coast president-elect Alassane Ouattara have killed hundreds of civilians, carried out mass rapes and burned at least 10 villages, according to a report by Human Rights Watch."

"The continued use of heavy weapons against the civilian population and our peacekeepers, as well as the attack against the headquarters of the legitimate government, have compelled me, once again, to instruct [UN force] UNOCI to use all necessary means," Ban Ki-moon said in a statement."

"A spokesperson for EU high representative Catherine Ashton was not immediately available on Monday morning. A senior official last week said the EU would wait until a UN investigation had been completed before deciding on a course of action regarding the reported atrocities."

[Old Teufel Hunden]

Did the French act unilaterally here? I don’t see any other forces working in concert with them. This sounds like it was a civil war to me. I thought countries weren’t supposed to act unilaterally in their own self interest anymore. I’m confused...

[nuconvert]

However, I was replying to this:

“We are talking about Sarkozy’s political survival.”

I don’t think the French are going to be very proud of having a Pres. who allowed a man to be publicly hacked to death. (should that occur)
So, it would be curtains for Sarkozy.

[ScaniaBoy]

I don’t think the French are going to be very proud of having a Pres. who allowed a man to be publicly hacked to death.

Well, wouldn't that be very French? ;-)

Seriously though, you may be correct. Actually the politically sensitive French Army has begun to back off a little:

French forces “helped” the pro-Ouattara fighters in the operation to capture Gbagbo, though they did not make the arrest, Laurent Teisseire, a spokesman for the French Defense Ministry, said by phone.

The article (from Bloombergs) is really worth reading. It is so wonderful of underhanded bias - and then it finishes with what at least for me was a total surprise:

Gbagbo’s capture ends the four-month stalemate and paves the way for Ouattara, a former prime minister under Houphouet- Boigny and deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund, to move into the presidential palace in Abidjan.

OK, there are three deputy managing directors at a time I believe, but still, I feel it explains both a little bit of this and a little bit of that....