Many of us expected to see mobs of rampaging partisans running down the streets and dragging people from their homes in the days after November 2nd. Of course, we expected to see that here in the States after the election results came out, not halfway around the world in Cote D'Ivoire as their civil war flares up again.
The last flare-up, which ultimately left the country divided in half, happened two years ago. As I recall, the rebels were led by soldiers citing upset at a cut in their benefits while the government said it expelled the soldiers because they were considered a possible threat to rebel. There was obviously a lot more to it that never made it into the papers. The government blamed immigrants from Burkina Faso of inciting the rebellion, which inflamed street violence, leading France to send troops to defend European and American civilians in the country. France soon teamed up with the government against the rebels, then acted as mediators to produce a ceasefire. The government agreed to a ceasefire but didn't actually stop its assaults until the West African Union sent forces to oppose them. Meanwhile, France became the hated enemy of both government and rebel forces for standing in between them.
The recent flareup began as the government bombed several targets in a rebel-held city, a few weeks after the rebels refused to disarm by a deadline, a few weeks after the government refused to pass legislation favouring the rebels by a deadline. Then the government bombed a French position, killing nine Frenchmen and an American. France wiped out Cote D'Ivoire's tiny air force in retaliation, causing the government to cancel its assault against the rebels and instead send fascist lynch mobs against white civilians in the cities it controlled. France has occupied the cities to stop the violence, and the UN Security Council has passed a resolution giving France carte blanche to forcably reestablish a ceasefire between the government and the rebels.
The BBC has timelines of long-term and recent events. For more information, see also The Scotsman on French troop movements, a VoA interview with Human Rights Watch, a VoA report on UN diplomatic activities, and Google News. This may not be related, but days before the attacks, the World Bank placed Cote D'Ivoire's loans in non-accrual status, implying that they don't expect Cote D'Ivoire to pay them back on time.
Posted by Warrior Tang at November 7, 2004 10:07 AM