The French version of shock and awe.
Posted on 11/06/2004 12:46:18 PM PST by BurbankKarl
ABIDJAN, Nov 6 (AFP) - The Ivory Coast government carried out a devastating air raid on a French army camp Saturday killing eight soldiers, prompting French President Jacques Chirac to order the destruction of all government planes involved in ceasefire violations.
French forces blew up two Ivorian warplanes on the runway in immediate retaliation for the attack, in which a US citizen was also reported killed and 23 injured.
France ordered two more companies of soldiers to buttress its 4,000-member peacekeeping force in the west African country as fighting broke out between French and Ivorian troops at Abidjan international airport, and scrambled three Mirage fighter jets from Chad to Libreville in Gabon.
Skirmishing also was reported Satruday between Ivorian government and rebel troops near Bouake, where a UN spokesman said artillery exchanges could be heard.
France has had troops stationed in Ivory Coast since last year after helping to mediate a peace agreement following the breakout of a civil war in 2002, but the implementation of the pact has been fitful and the west African country has remained divided in two.
Chirac called Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo after the attack "to warn him against any act liable to break the ceasefire" between the government and rebel New Forces holding the north of the country, officials at the presidency said.
Resentment against France boiled up both in Abidjan, where demonstrators torched a French school in an up-market district, and in the rebel-held town of Man, where demonstrators attacked French troops, accusing them of supporting the government.
The slide toward renewed civil war in the former French colony after government forces bombarded rebel positions in the northern part of the country earlier in the week drew a sharp rebuke from the African Union, which accused the government of going back on solemn agreements to work for national reconciliation.
France said two Russian-built Sukhoi 25 Frogfoot fighter-bombers of the Ivorian air force hit a French encampment in the central rebel stronghold of Bouake on Saturday, killing and injuring the soldiers of its 4,000-member Unicorn peacekeeping force. A US citizen was also reported killed in the strike.
Paris said it retaliated by destroying the Ivorian jets responsible for the strike based at Yamoussoukro, the nation's administrative capital. Foreign Minister Michel Barnier said France had destroyed the Ivorian aircraft as an act of legitimate self-defense.
Colonel Philipe Mangou of the Ivorian military command confirmed that the fighter bombers had been destroyed on the ground.
African Union officials warned that the government air raids against the rebel-held northern part of the country could push the country back towards civil war.
President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, the AU chairman, said he was deeply concerned about the violence, which he said "clearly contradicts the process of national reconciliation" as expressed in two peace agreements signed at Marcoussis in France and in Accra, Ghana.
The UN Security Council summoned an emergency meeting Saturday after Chirac called UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.
Barnier said it was up to President Laurent Gbagbo to "assume his responsibilities" and restore calm, particularly in the economic capital Abidjan, where fighting was reported between Ivorian government and French forces at the international airport.
France's position was buttressed by the European Union's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, who accused Gbagbo's forces of violating peace accords. Solana said the attack on the French peace-keepers was "inadmissable," and warned Gbagbo he was responsible for the safety of all foreigners in the country, including the 14,000 French nationals. The future of the Ivory Coast's relationship with the EU depended on it, he said.
French Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said there were no immediate plans to evacuate French residents.
In attacks apparently ordered by Gbagbo, government jets Thursday began pounding cities in the north of the country, which has been under the control of the New Forces since September 2002 when an insurrection erupted in the wake of a failed military coup.
The attacks were the most serious ceasefire violation since the French-brokered Marcoussis agreement in January last year that was intended to bring the rebel leaders into a unity government.
The French Unicorn force along with 6,000 United Nations peacekeepers polices a "confidence zone" set up to separate the warring parties while political dialogue takes place.
The New Forces warned they would launch an assault if government forces cross into the UN-controlled zone. The head of the New Forces, Guillaume Soro, described the air raids as a "coup d'etat" and accused Gbagbo of pushing the country back towards war to serve his own political interests.
New Forces spokesman Sidiki Konate told AFP it would be considered an act of war if the government forces crossed the buffer zone, warning the rebels "will give our forces the green light to head to Abidjan."
"We will not wait for them to attack us in our towns."
Alliot-Marie earlier said that UN forces had halted a northbound column of government troops. But the Ivorian army has denied having deployed ground forces towards the north.
Konate said the government air raids earlier this week had left 11 people dead and around 100 seriously wounded.
According to Konate, angry demonstrators on Saturday attacked French troops based in the rebel-held western town of Man, accusing them of supporting the government air raids and calling for them to leave Ivory Coast.
The French military confirmed the force had been targeted by "very aggressive" demonstrators.
By African standards, Cote d'Ivoire isn't a bad place, but there is still grinding squalor and poverty all over the country. What in the HELL are they doing spending money they don't have to buy Sukhoi aircraft? You don't suppose there was any Russian-Ivorian corruption at play, do you?
Look at their track record in third world countries - lost in Vietnam, lost in Algeria.
What kind of force does France have in place? A mob that size, even lightly armed, could probably overrun what passes for a "task force" when the UN runs things.
Where are Cher, Baldwin, Streisand, et.al. when you really need 'em?
Sweet mutheragawd, look at that resume. THAT'S who Chirac puts in charge of their "DoD"? How'd you like to be in their military, putting your life on the line and knowing that someone so clueless is "SecDef"?
> had to re-read this twice. i thought it said "french defiance minister..."
The last French Defiance Minister retired in 1815. He was never replaced.
Thanks Karl. Haven't been paying attention to west Africa lately. Got to get up to speed.
(I'm still clueless over what this whole conflict is all about.)
Take care, French troops.
It is difficult to learn this but France is apparently trying to destroy the country by supporting Islamic rebels in the North. New Forces movement is composed of what we would call "illegal aliens" from the countries surrounding which are poorer than the Ivory Coast.
I am for the government in this spat. Screw France.
Is it really French troops or the Foreign Legion? Big difference.
Aren't the Frenchies supporting islamofascists here??
Leftists get a pass on hipocrisy. Didn't you get the memo?
"``Everybody get your Frenchman!'' young men in the mob shouted to each others. "
Hmmmm maybe it should read
``Everybody get your French fried!'' young men in the mob shouted to each others.
Looks like he borrowed Kerry's plan.
actually, this article reminds me that the french, "rushed to battle without a plan to retreat."
THIS IS ALL BUSH'S FAULT!
Oooops. I forgot, the election is over. Sorry.
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