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| East/Subsaharan Africa |
| Ivorian Rebels Demand France Withdraw, Threaten War |
| 2002-12-13 |
| Ivory Coast's main rebel group demanded the departure of French troops from the West African country Friday, saying it was ready to go to war. The former colonial power announced this week that it was reinforcing its troops in the world's top cocoa grower to help maintain stability as well as to protect foreigners and monitor a cease-fire. The Patriotic Movement of Ivory Coast, which has held the north of the country since fighting broke out after a failed September 19 coup, said the fact that France was sending more troops showed it had chosen to interfere. "The French force in Ivory Coast is deviating from its mission and becoming a true force of occupation. In light of this, the MPCI will fight and its forces are ready to take up the challenge of war," chief rebel negotiator Guillaume Soro told a news conference in Togo's capital Lome. The rebels signed a cease-fire on October 17 to end four weeks of fighting, but talks in Togo have yielded no sign of a deal to end the war. More than 1,500 French troops have been monitoring the truce and have also evacuated thousands of foreigners from behind rebel lines. Hundreds more troops are due to arrive over the next few days. By now, French forces were originally meant to be leaving to be replaced by a West African force, but the regional mission has been held up by rivalries over command and troop contributions and still has no date to deploy. Soro said the rebels were demanding the "pure and simple departure of France from Ivory Coast." I seem to recall seeing an article saying that the French troops here were part of the French Foreign Legion. If the French government decides to take a stand, the Legion will go through these rebels like a hot knife through butter. |
| Posted by:Anonymous |
| #2 True, but they have had time to bring in their own transport by now. Also, it showed initative on someones part to go straight in without waiting and scrounge up that transport. The Legion handles a lot of dirty little conflicts in former French colonies and is the only place young French officers can get any combat experience. Their big problem has been getting screwed over by the French government while they are doing the fighting. They were the ones who tried to kill DeGall after he made the deal giving up Algeria after they spilled their blood fighting there for years. |
| Posted by: Steve 2002-12-13 15:40:15 |
| #1 You may be correct. However, this is the same French force that rode to the rescue of all those Americans in the school a few months ago, and showed up with no transport. The evacuation took place in personal cars and whatever else the people at the school could scrounge up. Remember, the Legion may not be French, but all its officers are. |
| Posted by: Chuck 2002-12-13 15:27:06 |