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Situations may be precarious at times but truly this is merely a lack of prayer as preparation for you are my houses of preparation of my will. So know my will by the preparation of your hearts before me for I AM The LIGHT of your path and way in Me ! John 1:4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. John 8:12 New International Version (NIV) Dispute Over Jesus’ Testimony 12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk...

AP - The International Criminal Court charged former Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo with murder, rape, persecution and inhuman acts Wednesday, crimes allegedly committed as his backers fought brutal battles to keep him in power after last year’s elections. Gbagbo, 66, is the first former head of state taken into custody by the court since it was established in 2002, although prosecutors also have charged Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir with genocide and Libya’s former leader, the late Moammar Gadhafi, with crimes against humanity. “Mr. Gbagbo is brought to account for his individual responsibility in the attacks against civilians committed by...

The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for ousted Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo, his France-based lawyer said on Tuesday. "They (Ivorian justice authorities) showed it to him this morning,"

United Nations and regional security forces are on high alert ahead of Liberia's second post-war polls Tuesday, amid fears over weapons and mercenaries circulating after recent conflict in neighbouring Ivory Coast. Liberia still relies heavily on a UN peacekeeping mission (UNMIL) to secure its fragile peace, eight years after it emerged from one of Africa's bloodiest wars in 2003, in which some 250,000 were killed. The 8,000-strong UNMIL force has boosted border security as has the UN mission in Ivory Coast, and defence chiefs from Burkina Faso, Ghana, Ivory Coast and Nigeria have pledged to send at least 540 police...

<p>United Nations peacekeepers in Ivory Coast enticed underage girls in a poor part of the West African nation to exchange sex for food, according to a United States Embassy cable released by WikiLeaks.</p> <p>The cable written in January 2010 focuses on the behavior of Beninese peacekeepers stationed in the western town of Toulepleu, an area that has been at the crosshairs of the nation's 10-year-long conflict.</p>

Abidjan — The Côte d'Ivoire government is demolishing shops and makeshift stalls in a bid to clean up the main city, Abidjan, but the operation is causing concern about how those affected will cope as the country is still reeling from post-election turmoil, observers say. Many of those affected had been chased off public property in the past and "Operation Clean Nation" - enforcing a decree dating from 2008 - has not come as a shock; still, hundreds of families have now lost their livelihoods. "When you look at the condition of those [being forced away], it's very clear that...

The gap between America's rich and poor is reportedly at an extreme high, much higher than many developing countries like Cameroon, the Ivory Coast, and even Yemen. According to the Central Investigative Agency's (CIA) World Fact Book, which ranks countries in terms of how 'equally' wealth is distributed, the U.S. is the 42nd most unequal country in the world, the Daily Mail reports. It has been ranked way behind the European Union and the United Kingdom in terms of equality of pay. In fact, the situation is so extreme that it has even been placed behind countries such as Cameroon,...

(Reuters) - The top U.N. human rights official expressed concern on Wednesday over acts of violence allegedly carried out by members of Ivory Coast's new army, including reports of summary executions, rape and torture. The former rebel Forces Republicaines Cote d'Ivoire (FRCI) is now the backbone of the west African state's armed forces after the ousting of ex-president Laurent Gbagbo two months ago. "Lack of discipline and violence on the part of the newly established army, the FRCI, which is composed of several different groups with no clear command structure, are ... of serious concern," U.N. High Commissioner for Human...

Ivory Coast - The change in government and the continuing struggle in Ivory Coast continues to impact New Church congregations there.

"Democracy is a charming form of government, full of variety and disorder, and dispensing a sort of equality to equals and unequal alike" Plato (BC 427 - 374BC). Open rigging and clinging brazenly to power have become common features of emerging democracies in the world today especially in Africa. Many Countries in Africa have become accustomed to "sit-tight dictators" or military style of leadership, with democracy being propelled by the West for their replacement. This is at the centre of the on-going conflict in many emerging democratic nations. Democratization of the world today as being championed by United States of...

Al Jazeera gains access inside the destroyed presidential palace where former Ivorian president was holed up. The French Air Force has handed control of the main airport in Abidjan to Ivorian authorities following the end of weeks of fighting. Officials are now assessing the damage to the presidential residence, where ousted leader Laurent Gbagbo was holed up. As Al Jazeera's Haru Mutasa reports, it's been a grim task. Video at the link.

The crisis in the Ivory Coast has important lessons for Europe, Israel and the United States. And none of these lessons is being conveyed by the Western media. The most important aspects of the crisis in the Ivory Coast are being overlooked or deliberately disguised by the Western media. One can read media report after media report without discovering the basic fact that the Northern Ivory Coast “rebels” are Muslims. Indeed they are Muslims who by and large entered the Ivory Coast as infiltrators, through borders that are poorly patrolled, from neighboring countries. A better advertisement for stronger border control...

(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.

French ground troops have entered the centre of the main Ivory Coast city of Abidjan for the fist time as incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo refuses to quit. Helicopter gunships are firing in the area around Mr Gbagbo's residence. On Sunday, UN and French helicopter gunships began a new operation they said was aimed at destroying heavy weapons near Mr Gbagbo's residence. Mr Gbagbo has been refusing to cede power to internationally-recognised President Alassane Ouattara. Loud explosions can be heard echoing around the lagoons which surround the centre of the city, says the BBC's Mark Doyle in Abidjan. On Monday morning,...

Early reports suggested that more than 800 people, largely from the Gbagbo-supporting Gueré tribe, were killed in a single day at the sprawling Salesian Saint Teresa of the Child Jesus mission in Duekoue, 300 miles west of Abidjan towards the Liberian border. The attackers seem to have been largely soldiers descended from Burkina Faso immigrant Muslim families loyal to Ouattara. Late yesterday the Roman Catholic charity Caritas said more than 1000 people were massacred in Duekoue. A Caritas spokesman said Caritas workers visited the town and reported seeing a neighbourhood filled with bodies of people who had been shot and...

Pro-Gbagbo forces launched an onslaught on the headquarters of the internationally recognised president, Alassane Ouattara, Saturday. French authorities said fighters also attacked its embassy in Abidjan, provoking counter-strikes. AFP - Ivory Coast strongman Laurent Gbagbo's forces attacked the headquarters of his rival, UN-recognised president Alassane Ouattara, on Saturday in a major escalation of the battle for control of the country. A UN spokesman and witnesses told AFP the Golf Hotel in Abidjan, where Ouattara has been holed up since disputed November elections, came under attack from about 5:00 pm local time (1700 GMT). It was the first time since the...

Anti-war demonstrators gathered in Montreal and Toronto this afternoon to call for an end to armed conflict across the globe. About 200 protesters marched through the streets of downtown Montreal. Many carried signs protesting against Canada's involvement in Afghanistan and Libya. Others wanted a peaceful resolution to the conflict in Ivory Coast. The Raging Grannies protest group performed songs calling for a more peaceful world for their grandchildren. Several dozen protesters turned out at a demonstration in Toronto.

Forces supporting Ivory Coast's entrenched strongman are showing they're not ready to give up. They broke through the security perimeter imposed around the presidential compound today, firing on French helicopters. A spokesman for French forces says no French soldiers were injured in the attack, but the helicopters fired back, destroying one armored vehicle. Forces loyal to Laurent Gbagbo's (BAHG'-bohz) camp had appeared on the brink of defeat, while those trying to install the internationally recognized winner of November's presidential election seized control of most of the country and isolated Gbagbo in a bunker.

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast – French forces wearing night vision goggles rappelled from a helicopter to rescue the Japanese ambassador and seven others, France's foreign minister said Thursday, as Ivory Coast's strongman leader remained in an underground bunker amid the fighting.

President Obama has announced that America would stop attacking Col. Moammar Khadafy's forces in Libya. He instead hopes that others can force out Khadafy -- or that the dictator will leave through economic and diplomatic pressure. It will apparently be up to NATO to finish the war-- without direct American combat participation. The relieved Obama administration had never quite explained what the mission was in the first place -- or for whom and for what we were fighting. Was the bombing to stop the killing, to help the rebels or to remove Khadafy? Were we enforcing just a no-fly zone,...

"France goes to war," announces the front page of Libération, in the wake of intervention by the 1,500-strong French Licorne (Unicorn) force in Ivory Coast. In response "to a request from the UN," on 4 April, helicopters from the French air force and and the UNOCI mission in the country bombarded several positions manned by forces loyal to outgoing president Laurent Gbagbo, who has refused to hand over power to his rival, Alassane Ouattara, the internationally acknowledged winner of the 2010 election in the country. "This intervention jointly conducted by the UN and the former colonial [Ivory Coast became independent...

Many of us are deeply troubled by what is happening in the Ivory Coast (La Cote d'Ivoire). The fundamental issues are being overlooked. The consequences and ramifications of this denouement are also being overlooked. Alasanne Ouattara went to the USA in the 1960s on an African-American Institute (AAI) scholarship as a citizen of the Upper Volta, now Burkina Faso. He was employed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in the late 1960s as a citizen of the Upper Volta/Burkina Faso. From the 1960s onwards, as the economy of Ivory Coast boomed, there was considerable immigration from neighbouring countries, particularly, Upper...

YouTube - President Obama Speaks to the People of Côte d'Ivoire via kwout

Alassane Ouattara, the man recognised by the international community as the winner of Cote d'Ivoire's presidential poll, has continuously been thwarted in his attempts to lead the west African nation. The 69-year-old began his career in economics, working at the International Monetary Fund in Washington, while also gaining a masters and doctorate in the field from the University of Pennsylvania in the United States. At the IMF he worked as African Director and as vice-governor, and governor, of the regional Central Bank of West African State, until being urged by Felix Houphouet-Boigny, Cote d'Ivoire's independence leader, to save the country...

Tens of Thousands of Refugees Trapped at Christian Compound After Mass Slaughter in Duékoué | FavStocks

YouTube - Catholic Church reports mass murder in Cote d'Ivoire via kwout

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppé says that incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo is negotiating his departure from the Ivory Coast after months of refusing to cede power following a November presidential run-off. No more at the moment.

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast – A senior diplomat says forces backing Ivory Coast's democratically elected leader have seized the presidential home where the entrenched strongman is in a bunker. The diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said Tuesday that fighters had taken the residence. Forces aiming to topple strongman Laurent Gbagbo had succeeded in taking nearly the entire countryside in just three days last week.

Fighting in Ivory Coast's main city, Abidjan, has taken a new turn with reports that entrenched ruler Laurent Gbagbo's residence has been captured. Forces loyal to Alassane Ouattara, the country's internationally recognised president, said they had taken the building after a day of fierce combat. A spokesman for Mr Ouattara, Patrick Achi, told the BBC it was not yet clear whether Mr Gbagbo had been inside. Heavy weapons fire could be heard again early on Tuesday, reports say. On Monday, UN and French helicopters attacked targets near the presidential residence. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said the attacks were ordered...

Please pray for these victims. It’s an underreported story that took place over the weekend. This from Jim Hoft at Gateway Pundit: At least 1,000 Christians were slaughtered this week in at the Salesian Saint Teresa of the Child Jesus mission in Duekou, Ivory Coast by Muslim troops loyal to Alassane Ouattara. The state-run media has been slow to report the facts. The conflict in Ivory Coast began in 2002. The country is divided between the Muslim north and Christian south. This is a conflict that has been brewing for years. Troops loyal to Alassane Ouattara, the Muslim opposition leader,...

Please pray for these victims. It’s an underreported story that took place over the weekend. This from Jim Hoft at Gateway Pundit: At least 1,000 Christians were slaughtered this week in the Salesian Saint Teresa of the Child Jesus mission in Duekou, Ivory Coast by Muslim troops loyal to Alassane Ouattara. The state-run media has been slow to report the facts. The conflict in Ivory Coast began in 2002. The country is divided between the Muslim north and Christian south. This is a conflict that has been brewing for years. Troops loyal to Alassane Ouattara, the Muslim opposition leader, moved...

UN helicopters have fired on a camp of forces loyal to Ivory Coast's incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo as his opponent's fighters launched a new offensive on the main city, Abidjan. Loud explosions have been heard as fighters backing internationally recognised President Alassane Ouattara move towards the presidential palace. France has authorised its forces to join the UN in protecting civilians. Reports from Abidjan say several people have been kidnapped. The group, including two French nationals, were seized by "armed men" from the Novotel hotel, the French foreign ministry told the AFP news agency. Heavy weapons A UN official told the...

(CNN) -- Violence is escalating in the west African nation of Ivory Coast, where president-elect Alassane Ouattara is trying to oust incumbent Laurent Gbagbo, who refused to leave office after losing an election. But the international response -- limited to a U.N. peacekeeping force already deployed there -- has paled by comparison with the U.S. and NATO air strikes targeting forces to Moammar Gadhafi in Libya to prevent attacks on rebels and civilians.

...most of the front page news you will see is about a loony Pastor of a small Florida Church burning a Koran…..Bizarro World I tell you. I wonder what the Obama doctrine says about this? At least 1,000 Christians were slaughtered this week in at the Salesian Saint Teresa of the Child Jesus mission in Duekoue, Ivory Coast by Muslim troops loyal to Alassane Ouattara. The state-run media has been slow to report the story. The conflict in Ivory Coast began in 2002. The country is divided between the Muslim north and Christian south. This is a conflict that has...

BBC News, Ivory Coast A spokesman for the Ouattara government said Laurent Gbagbo now only controlled the presidential palace and the presidential residence. But Abidjan's residents report a more mixed picture with armed groups loyal to the two sides roaming the city. There are formal forces but also the youth militia groups that have been armed as well. So far, pro-Ouattara forces have been unable to capture any of the key targets they have been fighting for since Thursday - the presidential offices, residence, state television and major barracks. Several key military leaders, including the head of the army have...

In the last 3 days, more than 1000 people have been massacred in Ivory Coast. Far less were killed in Libya and we joined with other nations to do air strikes, no fly zones etc. in Libya. We have not done that in Ivory Coast. President Obama said we went into Libya for humanitarian reasons. (1000 massacred in 3 days is a humanitarian crisis.) How do we reconcile the inactivity in Ivory Coast? And I am not suggesting we should go in (I don't have the answer.) I am trying to figure out how the Administration justifies the disparate treatment...

The United Nations mission in Ivory Coast began evacuating some 200 employees after frequent attacks on its headquarters by forces loyal to the country's strongman. A UN employee said they were told Sunday that they were leaving. They were taken by helicopter from their downtown base to the airport. Another helicopter will take them to the northern city of Bouake. The person asked not to be named because employees are not authorized to speak to the press.

GENEVA — At least 800 people were killed in intercommunal violence in one town in Ivory Coast this week, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said Saturday, as rival forces continued to battle for power in the country. "We have information that at least 800 persons were killed on March 29 (Tuesday) in Duekoue in intercommunal violence," ICRC spokeswoman Dorothea Krimitsas told Reuters. "Our colleagues saw hundreds of bodies ... We strongly suspect that was the result of intercommunal violence." Fierce fighting spread across Ivory Coast's main city of Abidjan Friday as troops loyal to Ivory Coast's Laurent...

It is ever so obvious that Barack Obama's heart is not in Libya, but like every President since Jefferson he has come to recognize the harsh contradictions as the nation's chief executive and campaigning for the office. His predicament is nothing new. Principle meets the real world. In the midst of the BP oil spill, I wrote that the President seemed "detached". This entire administration can now aptly described as "detached", but more importantly it can now be held accountable for gross contradiction in selectively determining "humanitarian" intervention. Obama dithered for three weeks on Libya, missing a window of opportunity...

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast — Heavy fighting raged Friday in the neighborhoods where the presidential palace is located as well as near the presidential residence and state TV broadcaster as armed forces loyal to the elected president tried to install him to power and oust the country's strongman. Residents locked up in their homes reported barrages of heavy arms fire punctuated by detonations throughout the night. On the peninsula where the presidential palace is situated, building were shaking with each explosion, witnesses said. Patrick Achi, a spokesman for the country's internationally recognized leader Alassane Ouattara said the fighters had breached the...

Obama’s inhuman “humanitarian” doctrine Obama is active in Libya, spending Billions of dollars, he said it's a "humanitarian" mission to "protect civilians." * When protesters against the oppressive totalitarian Islamic-apartheid regime of Iran were slaughtered in the streets. Obama said: "We don't intervene." At a time when the Islamic Republic pushes bloodshed (directly or via its Hezbollah arm) in: Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Israel, Somalia, Afghanistan, etc. * In the Ivory Coast people are dying. "Moral" Obama couldn’t find oil there, apparently. * In the Sudan, 2,500,000 already died in previous years by the racist Arab and militant Islamic North /...

Intense fighting has erupted in western Ivory Coast, where fighters loyal to two rival presidents are battling for control of Duekoue, a strategic town. Residents of Duekoue reported hearing explosions and heavy weapons being fired on Monday. Witnesses say fighters backing internationally-recognized president Alassane Ouattara launched an attack to capture the town from forces of incumbent president Laurent Gbagbo. Pro-Ouattara rebels have been making gains in western Ivory Coast, seizing at least five towns from pro-Gbagbo troops in recent weeks.

Washington, DC - US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Friday condemned Ivory Coast strongman Laurent Gbagbo and his forces for violence in the African nation and for a "callous disregard" for life, AFP reported. "The United States calls for an immediate end to the violence," Clinton said in a statement that took aim at Gbagbo, who is resisting calls from the world community to hand the presidency to recognized November election winner Alassane Ouattara. She said the "United States strongly condemns" attacks by Gbagbo's forces on his own people, including one Thursday on unarmed women demonstrators that left seven...

Four Israeli embassies and consulates have been temporarily shut down due to a mounting terror threat, according to foreign press. Turkish newspaper Hurriet reported that the Israeli embassy in Ankara and the consulate in Istanbul are among the diplomatic missions that have shut their doors. The Counter-Terror Bureau has cited, in recent days, a growing threat of the imminent execution of terror attacks against Jewish and Israeli targets abroad, with emphases on Egypt, Turkey, Georgia, Armenia, Ivory Coast, Mali, Mauritania and Venezuela. The Bureau urges Israelis traveling to these countries to avoid places where there are concentrations of Israelis, and...

"Ivory Coast's farmers provide a third of the world's supply of cocoa" Long queues have formed at banks in Ivory Coast amid fears of a banking collapse as the Standard Chartered bank said it was suspending operations. It is the fourth bank to close this week because of turmoil following November's disputed presidential polls. Earlier it was reported that West Africa's BRVM stock exchange, based in Abidjan, had suspended its operations. BRVM staff told the BBC they were working, but it was not clear if they were actually able to do transactions.

Recent events in Tunisia, Lebanon and Egypt spell a dangerous new trend in the region. There have been major developments in Tunisia, Lebanon and Egypt, each of which is of tremendous importance. In Tunisia, a popular uprising fueled by unemployment, economic suffering and long-term discontent has overthrown the dictator, but not necessarily the dictatorship. In 55 years of independence, the country has been governed by two dictators, the current one being Zine al-Abedin Ben Ali, who has been president for 23 years and was a key power in the regime even before that. Is this going to spread? Does it...

If there’s one subject the mainstream media loves to skirt it’s the problems caused by Islamic expansionism in the developing world. If there’s another subject the MSM loves to avoid, it’s the problems caused by massive migrations of people into previously ethnically/religiously homogeneous nations. The volatile political situation currently unfolding in the Ivory Coast highlights the overlap between both problems in an acute way. While many media outlets are depicting the battle between supporters of President Laurent Gbagbo and Alessane Outtara as simply a fight between the southern and northern parts of Cote d’Ivoire, the truth is much more complex....

Currently there is an impasse in the runoff of the Presidential elections in the Ivory Coast. The French-linked and funded electoral commission declared that Alassane Outtara won the election while the Constitutional Court declared incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo as the victor. The 'international community' of Western countries, NGOs, UN appeasers, and a variety of Francafrique cowards and bed-wetters support Ouattara even though massive fraud has been demonstrated at the polls in the rebel-held North. This result should be no surprise to anyone. There has been no effective disarmament of the tin-pot rebel warlords of the North and no unification of...

Israel neutral in crisis facing friendly African state; Ambassador Kessie Raymond Koudou tells 'Post' country is not on verge of civil war. Israel is taking a decidedly neutral stand in the crisis in the Côte d’Ivoire that could hurtle that country down the path toward a new civil war. Israel is “not saying what to do, or preaching to others what to do, hoping that the sides will be able to solve the problems,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said on Wednesday. Israel knows and has had good relations with both President Laurent Gbagbo and his chief rival, Alassane Ouattara,...

The government of Ivory Coast ex-president Laurent Gbagbo wants $200,000 back out of the $300,000 it paid lobbyist Lanny Davis before he resigned the contract last week, but Davis is negotiating, Mike Allen reports in Playbook. "Lanny says he got $300,000 upfront and spent much of it staffing up for the job, including retaining a French speaker, with his team going 'round the clock' for seven to 10 days," Allen writes. "Davis said the fee is not unusual for him to charge a foreign government, and not unusual when he has to hire a bunch of people for the account."...