IVORY COAST
French military tries to impose ‘regime change’
By
Abayomi Azikiwe
Editor, Pan-African News Wire
Published Apr 6, 2011 5:12 PM
April 4 — For the second time in two weeks, French President Nicolas
Sarkozy has launched military operations aimed at overthrowing an African
government. This latest was a military assault against President Laurent
Gbagbo’s government in the Ivory Coast. Gbagbo has rejected the results
of a disputed run-off election held last November as well as calls from the
West and the regional organization ECOWAS for him to step down.
On March 19, France started the aerial bombing campaign against the North
African state of Libya, which is designed to topple the government of Moammar
Gadhafi. The pretexts for both military actions are United Nations Security
Council resolutions ostensibly designed to protect civilians and carry out
humanitarian efforts.
In the Ivory Coast capital, Abidjan, U.N. so-called peacekeeping forces have
conducted air strikes against military units still loyal to President Gbagbo
and have attacked the presidential palace. Following a dispute over the
elections, various Western countries and their allies within the region have
called for settling the conflict by granting opposition leader Alassane
Ouattara the presidency. French imperialism has armed and trained the militia
that backs Ouattara.
Gbagbo, the incumbent president, has rejected the legitimacy of French and U.N.
involvement in the current dispute over the results of the national elections.
He has accused France of imperialist ambitions to control its former colony and
earlier had requested the establishment of a coalition government with
Ouattara.
Eyewitness accounts of France and the U.N.’s April 4 attacks say
helicopters fired at least four missiles at areas purportedly controlled by
Gbagbo supporters. Hamadou Touré, spokesperson for the U.N. unit in the
Ivory Coast, used the same line of argument as that used to justify imperialist
intervention in Libya, claiming the Gbagbo army was using “heavy weapons
against us” and that the U.N. forces had to “protect innocent
lives.” (Telegraph.co.uk, April 4)
French military stationed in Ivory Coast
Reports indicate that France already has a military force of 1,650 troops in
Ivory Coast. A BBC news report said that French forces shelled the presidential
palace on April 1.
Although the French forces are nominally a part of the U.N. peacekeeping
mission to the country, Paris has announced it recently bolstered its troops by
another 450 soldiers. French military forces reportedly took control of the
airport outside Abidjan on the evening of April 2. A nation of over 20 million
people, Ivory Coast is the world’s largest producer of cocoa.
France ruled Ivory Coast as a colony from 1893 to 1960. After its independence,
the Ivory Coast’s dominant political forces maintained close relations
with Paris for nearly four decades, and the country was part of the French
economic zone.
The U.N. and French forces are bolstered by the military units controlled by
Alassane Ouattara, who says that he has 9,000 fighters under his command. The
commanding officer of the forces loyal to Ouattara said on April 4, “We
know when it starts it could take 48 hours to properly clean (the city).”
(Associated Press, Reuters, April 4)
France continues military role in former colonies
This is by no means the first time that France has intervened in the internal
affairs of its former colonies in Africa. During a 2009 rebellion in Gabon, an
oil-rich, pro-Western state, France sent its military units into the streets
under the guise of protecting the lives of its nationals living and working
inside the country.
The French military maintains permanent bases in various parts of West Africa.
In Djibouti, in the Horn of Africa, the French share a military outpost with
the U.S. The Pentagon has its Africa Command (Africom) forward operating center
inside Djibouti.
France and the U.S. collaborated in initiating the current war against Libya,
where they and Britain carried out more than 1,000 bombing missions within two
weeks. In Ivory Coast, both the Barack Obama and Sarkozy governments have
demanded the removal of Laurent Gbagbo.
Although France and the U.N. have a strong presence in Ivory Coast, a massacre
of hundreds of civilians between March 28 and March 30 in the western cocoa
producing town of Duekoue has drawn international attention to the ongoing
conflict. The International Committee of the Red Cross reported on April 1 that
“800 people had been shot to death” in the town. However, the U.N.
said that the death toll was 330 as of April 1. (cnn.com, April 4)
U.N. deputy human rights director, Guillaume Ngefa, said that the massacre
occurred during an offensive led by the military forces of the French and U.N.
supporting Ouattara. Nonetheless, the Ouattara forces said that “it
firmly rejects such accusations and denies any involvement by the Republican
Forces of Cote d’Ivoire in possible abuses.” (cnn.com, April 4)
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