January 29, 2003

France Ready to Evacuate Citizens from Ivory Coast

France is ready to evacuate its citizens from Ivory Coast "at any time" and face up to any security challenges posed by the unrest there, Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin said Wednesday.

Villepin said France had reinforced security measures in the capital Abidjan as protests against a peace deal brokered by France last week spread. France has 2,500 troops in the West African country, the world's largest cocoa producer.

The minister insisted that the deal, which embattled President Laurent Gbagbo has played down and the Ivory Coast army has rejected, must remain the basis for any reconciliation between the government and rebel forces challenging it.
[...]
He said French soldiers were on alert but added France had to "avoid any slip-up that could set off a fire."
[...]
Asked if the army might overthrow Gbagbo, he[de Villepin] said "I think today that all parties understand the importance of this reconciliation because it will permit a demilitarization."

"As President Gbagbo said himself, the Ivorian army must understand the situation and accept this reconciliation." Ivory Coast's army rejected key aspects of the peace deal on Tuesday and refused to demobilize, saying in a letter to Gbagbo that the accord "carries within it the germs of a national implosion."

Does any of what De Villepin said mean anything?
Maybe it sounds better in French. *Gallic shrug*
I have liked the French very much in the past, but now I'm beginning to think they are real swine and not only because of they way they've behaved to us and to their own Jewish citizens, either.
This whole Ivory Coast thing is a mess, une bourdelle as they would say....
They make Gbagbo come to Paris to negotiate a peace for his country, when he probably only wanted the French to send in troops to put down the revolt and help sustain his government.
When the French broker (or should we say "order") this "reconciliation" with the "rebels"--which involves giving the Muslim "rebels" partial control of the government after a mere 4-month-long uprising--it's not surprisingly unacceptable to the Ivorian army and a good portion of the Ivorians.
So what is the French solution when their precious "reconcilation" fails?
Now that the inevitable implosion of Ivory Coast has begun, they've decided that all the French people should leave the country, aided by their troops there, and run back to France, naturellement!
I presume they were issued their white surrender flags before they left Weasel Land...
In the meantime, what are President Ngagbo and the Ivorians to do who are left to try and live there?
I truly feel sorry for them and I sincerely hope that the United States can be of help in some way to these poor people yearning for democratic, peaceful rule.